febrero

So far February has been a muddle towards spring. The rainy weather has begun to peter out into sunshine and warmth once again, a most welcome change from the gray and wet. I did make a brief escape from the Berkeley fog in order to go for the first time to Tahoe for a snowboarding adventure, which was really quite wonderful. The rain in Berkeley actually indicated a good snow in Tahoe, or so went the murmurs I heard from many people. I guess in terms of outdoor sport activities, skiing and snowboarding figure pretty highly here in NorCal and occupy the kind of position that maybe surfing and watersports do down South. We drove out up into the mountains where gray chilliness turned into rain and then into snow flurries. There were stations where ppl had to stop to put chains on their tires and big men in orange snowsuits who earned $25 a pop to help outfit tires. In Tahoe we stayed at my friend's sister's house, a gorgeous home that was luxuriously outfitted, meaning for me a fantastic kitchen. (I learned how to make potato leek soup.) We ended up spending one day indoors b/c the rain made the snow slushy--a day of complete relaxation too cook, play games, and watch dvds.

The last day we were there was the snowboarding adventure. In borrowed ski clothes (with ski pants that I never managed to button up, thank goodness for long jackets!) and rented boots I did my fair share of dragging and falling and sniffling for the glory of a little swish! swish! down the bunny slope. Funny Bunny, you kicked my butt and left marks but I love you all the same. I must say, one of the greatest feelings was to ride up on the ski lift where all is quiet and it is just you and the swirling snowflakes, down below ppl slowly sliding down the slopes but up high they might as well just be little tangles of twigs. And the silence of no more voices, just the hum of the lift and the cloudy sound of wind rushing past your ears.