Saturday... Wrestling, hiking, Christmas Concert, Ski Racers, and little skiing history

Mr Grinch always takes his place on the fireplace mantel of my home.
The wine during the final two weeks of the semester? In my hand...  

Today, Sebino got up at 0-dark-thirty (i.e., early) to head off to a wrestling match. It's almost 8pm and he's not back yet. Guido is in a Christmas concert with Connie. He is one of the Three Wise Men... or a King... a donkey? Whatever, he's a good sport.

Today, Bailey and I hiked the ski area. What's fun about hiking the ski area today at 16 degrees F (i.e., –9C) is the snowmaking. For the first half of the hike, we went through a blizzard of man-made snow.

Finally, the boys have been given their "certified" ski racing helmets and they're pretty proud of them.   I've included a few photos from other Foreigns who have raced here. Rumford has a long storied history of ski racing, so the boys are in good company.

So, here are some photos depicting this-n-that of our Saturday here in wintry Rumford. Oh, we may have decided NOT to have a Christmas "tree," instead opting for a Christmas Book Tree. Writers like this kind of tree. We'll see if the boys change their minds. And on it goes...

Stylin' ski racers

That's a little better

Here are the uniforms the boys will wear at their races.

William (Denmark) racing. Like Sebino and Guido, William skied one or two weeks a
year prior to coming to America. He got good fast. 

This is Peter (Denmark). He had minimal skiing experience and within 4 weeks
he proved to be a hard-charging ski racer. This section of the mountain is known as
a headwall--it's quite steep and Peter is kicking it!





This is Sam Morse, a US Ski Team ski racer that I've worked with for the past 6 years.
Part of my research at the University is focused on athletes' learning and how
they use writing in team notebooks, journals, and training logs to improve. And below
is a picture of Sam in a downhill race in Canada a few weeks ago.  



We call this "getting air."




Rumford Ski Team from the 1930s.





The Kent Brothers in 1981 skiing at Squaw Valley, California,
where the 1960 Olympics were held.
L-R: Allen, Rob, Rich, and Fred.
By this time my sister had stopped skiing,
but she was a downhill racer, too.

The view from Black Mountain toward the southwest

Mt Blue in Weld (our summer home town) taken from Black Mountain

Bailey on Black Mountain

The two boys in the middle, Jan and Simon, played Shepards in the Christmas Concert.
And Yes! That's Connie on the far right. Note Jan, tallest, isn't quite sure how he got
involved in this affair. Simon, next to Connie, loves the stage!