TV - reality!

D'you remember back in November I went to a meeting and ended up volunteering to take part in a TV programme?  And that in December I set forth with a borrowed camcorder and took wobbly footage of fair trade businesses around town?  And that was followed up by my own less than stellar performance on camera?

I then forgot about it all and got stuck into Christmas.  But, lo and behold, time has passed and tonight I went along to see the preview showing of WMHT's latest edition of Our Town.  (And I still feel unable to mention the name of the town, which is daft, I know but it's hard to break a more than three-year-old habit.)

Well you know, it wasn't too bad.  The editors had done a superb job of clipping and trimming hours of amateur footage into something really quite watchable, and, speaking for myself at least, they did a decent job of editing the interviews too.  Each segment lasted about three minutes, and some of us also reappeared for a few seconds at the end, summing up our thoughts about the town. 

There were sections about local history, parks and amenities, businesses, green initiatives, choirs and orchestras, parades and theatrical performances.. and much else besides (including, of course, fair trade).  Participants ranged in age from about 8 to 80.  The audience was left feeling lucky to live in a such a lovely community - exactly as the programme-makers intended.

I found it all fascinating and very enjoyable.  The whole show ran to 90 minutes, so to be honest maybe if I didn't live in Our Town I wouldn't have found it quite so gripping.  But that's the mysterious magic of TV isn't it - for some reason it's ridiculously exciting to see places and people you know appearing on a screen.

Gone today and hair tomorrow

Up early to bid farewell to the Man, who is off on some travels.  The Exile called for him at 6:30am and they headed down to JFK airport, thence onwards to a faraway land and an inconveniently different time zone.  As I write - and possibly even as you read this - they are still up in the air.   More on that anon.  He has taken the camera with him, and maybe he'll post some photos from his destination later in the week.

Though I feel a little gloomy without him, at least I have plenty of projects to keep me busy for the next few days.  First up was hosting a late birthday party for the Boy this afternoon.  Not a big deal.  Just a small bunch of boys hanging out together, with added crisps and cake. 

Just now I've been plaiting (braiding) the Girl's hair.  I am naturally curly-but-not-in-a good-way, and go to quite a lot of trouble to straighten my hair (though even after my best efforts, the least drizzle or humidity makes it frizz up like a crazy sheep).   My daughter, however, has dead straight (except when tangled in rats' nests of neglect) hair, and yet she yearns for waves.  So we've plaited it wet tonight so that it will be twirly tomorrow morning.  What contrary creatures we are.

Zoom through the seasons

With winter nowhere near finished, it'll be a while 'til Zoom Flume re-opens.  So tonight, at the Girl's suggestion, we made our own...

You've just got to love Lego.

Be careful what you wish for

A few weeks ago we had days and days of media build-up to an epic snowstorm that didn't quite happen.  Today's forecast talked about 3 inches of "wintry mix", probably turning to rain...

...but oh no.  We had snow.  And snow and snow and snow.  And more snow.  Well over a foot according to my yardstick by the time the day was out.  The Man cleared the driveway late morning, and three hours / three inches later I cleared it again.  And then once again a few hours after that, though even as I did so another half inch fell.  (It's not as mad as it sounds, by the way, clearing a drive while it's still snowing - you try shovelling more than a foots-worth in one go.)

It's all my fault, of course.  I was the one wishing for "a proper winter" and "snow worth writing home about".  Certainly had that - and I daresay you're sick of reading about it by now.  And just in case any of you in Springy Britain are suffering from snow-envy all I can say is, Come on over!  Bring a shovel and a container lorry and take as much as you want. 

Seriously, be our guest.  We are so done with snow.

But oh, go on then - since we've got it, we'll still manage to go out and have some fun in it.

Taking to the cleaners

So, having spent much of yesterday reading and thinking about Burma, today I set out and met someone from there.

In the last couple of weeks I've started noticing posters advertising an outfit called "Refugee Cleaners".  Studying one of the posters more closely, I learnt that the refugees in question are from Bhutan, Iraq - and Burma.   Apparently Albany is a designated resettlement city for people from these three countries.  But many have trouble finding employment because of their lack of English, so some of them have banded together to start their own cooperative cleaning company.

From time to time I write elsewhere for a (less personal) community blog.  "Refugee Cleaners" looked like an interesting subject, and maybe I could help publicize their efforts.  I got in touch and arranged to meet one of their number, alongside an American associate who is helping the group out.

Steah Htoo came to Albany with her husband and children two years ago, from a refugee camp in Thailand.  Her ethnic group, the Karenni, has long been persecuted by the Burmese army.  With no hope of safely returning to Burma, when a chance came to move to America this family seized it.  It has been hard, Steah Htoo said, trying to fit into an entirely new culture, but at least her English is fairly good, and she has got herself a housekeeping job at a local hotel.  She is a leading light for the Refugee Cleaners - teaching them how to clean well and helping out on the communications side of things. 

What I learnt today about Steah Htoo and the cleaning team impressed me very much: they face many challenges, but they are keen to support each other within their refugee community, and they are also determined to be active, self-sufficient and contributing members of society.  By putting themselves out there I think they are really proving that they deserve to be accepted in this "can do" country of America.  I wish them well.

Abroad thoughts from abroad

In 1997 I stepped sideways out of my life for six months and went to Burma to teach English in a Catholic convent.  Why?  Because two nuns I knew asked me, and I said yes. 

Today I dug out the diaries I wrote back then and I've been revisiting my experiences.  Strange times.  I lived in Lashio, in the northeast of Burma - a remote town in a remote country.  Most weeks I was the only Westerner around - which seemed kind of cool for a day or two, but ultimately left me feeling quite isolated.  And while it's surprisingly easy to get used to living by candlelight, with no running water, it turned out to be much harder to cope with being suddenly immersed in a religious life when, as I noted at the time, "I'm not a Catholic (not even a Christian, though I daren't tell anyone here - they'd all go into prayer overdrive for my lost soul)."

Of course, I had some wonderful experiences along the way, and met with great kindness and generosity at all times (which, given the poverty most people lived in, could sometimes be profoundly humbling).  I shared many laughs with my students, made many friends.  But I always felt different, always an outsider, always a long way from home. 

This retrospection has been brought on because I want to remind myself what it's like to try and adapt to living in an entirely different culture (a much bigger leap than, say, being a Briton in America).  More on this tomorrow...

Confessions of a socks maniac

It has been a pleasant enough day, though uneventful.  Both kids managed to arrange to see friends, and I went on a sock-shopping trip.  I seem to have to shop for socks an awful lot.  Whichever sort I buy, and whoever wears them, they don't last longer than about two washes before they're full of holes.  Is that true of British socks, too?  I can't remember. 

Maybe it's time I learnt how to knit my own.

Beach where?

We woke to snow, which kept gently falling until noon, leaving us with two or three fresh inches of white.

In the afternoon the Man (off work for Presidents Day) and I thought it might be nice to visit Grafton Lake, and indeed it was very beautiful - and totally deserted.  But although we'd brought our skates with us the skating rink on the lake was snowed under, and obviously with no lifeguard present we weren't able to swim.

So we moved on to the nearby Peace Pagoda, which was also looking beautiful.  But the children, feeling cold, were not in best spirits and we didn't stay long.  You can lead your child to the pagoda, but you can't make him or her meditate.

Happier times this evening though:  the kids requested a "Family Games Night" and we've had some raucous rounds of Dweebies, Slamwich, Apples to Apples and Cranium. 

Leaps and bounds

This morning I had a useful meeting at a local church.  Another Fair Trade Market is afoot, so that's great.  While I was out the Girl had an outing on her rollerblades, as a change from ice-skating.

From there it was straight over to Willard Mountain for one last ski lesson.  Of the eleven that started in my adult-learners class, only two of us made it right through to this final session.  I feel like I've learnt a lot from the course, and what I still lack in fearlessness (I'm much, much happier sticking to the easier runs) I'm beginning to make up for, slightly, in style. 

The kids meanwhile merrily plunge down Black Diamonds, seemingly without a care in the world.  We suspected all along that the Girl would take readily to skiing, but the Boy (not famous for wanting to try new things) has really impressed us with his dogged determination, courage, and willingness to test himself to the limit.

Screen flies

So much for that little taste of Spring yesterday.   The temperature fell over night, and the wind got up.  It's been perishing cold again all day, and we've had more snow - not much, but just enough to remind us that it ain't all over yet.

There was skating at lunchtime as usual.  With a lot of persistence, I've nearly sussed those not-impossible-after-all back edges: hooray!  Later, a trip to the mall where the Girl invested some of her Christmas savings in a pair of skinny jeans.

Tonight we'll stay hunkered down in the warm, as the wind continues to howl around the outside of the house searching, as it it did last night, for a loose fly-screen to tear from a window and blow across the backyard.

Last of the Snowhicans?

The gloves were off today.  Not in the sense of a no-holds-barred fight - just, it's been really warm so I didn't need to wear gloves.

Nearly 60F!  Positively spring-like!  Though the landscape is still icey-white, people were wandering around in T-shirts.  And the neighbourhood has been alive with the sound of snowmelt - gurgling along gutters and gushing down downspouts.  Roads and driveways are slowly widening as the receding snowbanks turn themselves into streams and burble into the stormdrains.

A car parked on a neighbour's drive for the last two or three months has re-emerged from its snow blanket...

What is Five Rivers?

I attended a meeting at Five Rivers today, a forum examining how the environmental preserve stands (particularly in respect of recent State cuts) and how it can continue to evolve as an educational and community resource.

It was interesting to hear the suggestions put forward for attracting more visitors.  There were thirty-five or so people gathered for the discussion, and nearly everyone seemed to be drawn to Five Rivers for different reasons. 

For some it's a place to observe and study nature; for others it's somewhere pleasant to take exercise (a series of "fitness hikes" was suggested).  Many like to bring their whole family; others come to find solitude.  Some people find artistic inspiration in the natural environment, and suggested the addition of sound sculptures, or a poetry trail.  For others again Five Rivers is a source of spiritual replenishment... 

By the end of the meeting I realised there is no single catch-all definition for Five Rivers - it offers so much, in diverse ways, to so many people.  I feel luckier than ever to have this resource practically on my doorstep, and keener than ever to support it.

Birthday Boy

Our Boy turned nine today. Unusually, he had to go to school on his birthday (before it always seems to have fallen during half-term or Presidents' week) but he gamely went in and even worked through a mound of homework this evening, in between presents and cake.

There was a bit of a Club Penguin theme this year...

Art and Sole

The kids' whole school has been preparing to put on an art exhibition, which families went to view this evening.  Inspired by a recent show at the Albany Institute of History and Art, each child had decorated a shoe in whatever way he or she fancied.

Some real imagination and loads of effort had gone into the work - not to mention a whole lot of glitter glue in many cases.  Shoes were adorned with flowers, feathers, pieces of Lego, plastic dinosaurs, turbo rocket boosters...you name it really. 

Our kids each took inspiration from their current passions:  for the Girl, an ice-skating theme...

and for the Boy, a homage to the puffles of Club Penguin.

New York choc exchange

I led a snowshoeing lesson at Five Rivers this morning, for a group of good-natured 7th graders (12-13 year olds).  They were somewhat interested in the tracking aspect of things, but had the most fun gallumphing around in the deep snow of the meadow.

We were out for nearly two hours and walked about a mile and half, stopping to observe signs of animal life as we went along.  Towards the end of the hike we were seeking out shady areas to stand in, to cool down.  Today has been the closest thing to hot a day we've seen for...well, it seems like months.   No point hoping to get used to that though, we're heading down below freezing again for tonight and tomorrow.

In the afternoon I dropped into the Girl's classroom to see her and her classmates enjoy their Valentine's Day party.  Just another excuse for lots of candy, as far as I could see.  The Boy also came home with a small sackload of lollies etc.  Sigh.  But then again, the Man and I (who don't always bother marking this Hallmark Holiday) have exchanged enough fair trade chocolate today to last us until Easter - 2012.

Musical Chairs

I was surprised and quite excited the other day when I received an invitation via email to a "Musical Chairs meeting".  It's a long time since I played Musical Chairs, but it can be kind of fun...

In reality, the meeting was a little more prosaic.  In a rash moment a few weeks ago I'd signed up to chair the publicity committee for the school's annual Fifth Grade theatrical extravaganza.  Hence the invitation to join the other chairs - in charge of organizing set, props, costumes etc etc - to discuss the logistics of the event.  Because only the 5th Grade take part there's no continuity of parent volunteers from one year to the next, so everyone comes to the project fresh and a bit daunted.  On the other hand, because they've staged a musical at the school every year for the past thirty, there is a bumper file of how-to notes - no-one has to reinvent the wheel.  Nevertheless I take my hat off to the two women who have stepped up to be the Co-Chairs of Chairs.  They'll have their work cut out keeping everything on track.

Speaking of tracks, we were making them in the snow again all afternoon up at Willard Mountain.  Both kids made it down black runs today - the hardest available.  Not me, though.  I stuck mainly with the Bunny Hop today, "honing my skills" (that's my story, anyway). 

Scared?  Me?  Umm...

Edge of reason

The roadside snow in particular soon gets to looking a bit grubby and past its best.  This afternoon we had a couple of intense snow flurries, lasting only a few minutes each, which didn't add much inch-age but left everything looking freshly white again, as if dredged with sugar.

Today's skating lesson was also quite intense.  I'm really struggling with something called back edges, where you have to describe a series of curves, switching from one foot to the other, all while skating backwards.  "Edge" refers to the edge of the skate blade - the curve is achieved by your weight being either on the outside or inside edge.  You also have to hold your arms in a certain position, switching arms as you make the curve, and you have to make sure your shoulder doesn't drop, or your hip, as that throws you off - remember, all the time you're balancing on one foot.  And head up, head up! 

Sorry to get so detailed about it, but I'm trying to give you a feel for what a challenge it is to hold every part of yourself in just the right place at the right moment - and move at the same time!  I'm doing better than I was a few weeks ago when I started to learn this manoeuvre, but progress is maddeningly slow.  Only four more lessons in which to try and nail it...

Winter wonderful

When you wake up and see that it's minus 8F (-22C) outside, your first thought tends to be "Brrr," followed by, "Are any pipes frozen?"  Today, alas, yes one was (though it unfroze itself later, phew).

It was still below zero by going-to-school time, yet the Boy insisted on walking.  I'm glad he did.  The sky was a slicing blue, and the air as sharp as the shadows criss-crossing all the snowy front yards.  But by bundling up like a toddler (snowboots, snowpants, a down jacket over three other layers, mittens over gloves, and various other woolly accessories) it's possible to keep quite toasty even on such a chilly morning - you just have to avoid falling over because with all that padding on there's a serious risk you'll never get up again.

In the afternoon I walked into town (to buy my sweetheart a Valentine's gift - shh, don't tell) and enjoyed more crisp blue skies, and sunshine reflecting off snowy rooftops, and sparkling icicles hanging from eaves.  I know that it can cause all sorts of danger and damage, that it's too damn long and I'll be moaning about it this time next month... but winter here is really quite a wonderful season.

Snowshoe shuffle

Previous years when I've tried snowshoeing, and even when I've taught it to school groups at Five Rivers, I've secretly wondered what all the fuss was about.  With only a shallow covering of snow on the ground, straightforward snowboots really seem to be just as useful and a lot less hassle.

But this year snowshoeing is starting to make sense to me.  When the alternative is to sink up to your knees in cold wet stuff with every exhausting step, strapping a pair of tennis racketty things on your feet is suddenly a very attractive solution.  By helping redistribute your weight the snowshoes keep you safely on the surface so you can enjoy your wintery hike with relative ease.

I went on an excellent hour-and-a-half-long hike around my favourite nature preserve today with my Japanese friend.  She enjoyed it so much that when we got back to the visitor centre she immediately signed up to become a Friend of Five Rivers - totally unprompted by me - so that she and her family can enjoy the benefit of free snowshoe hire for the rest of the season.

Arch-itecture

It was the Boy's turn tonight to attend a science fair.  There was fun to be had making Mobius strips, and there were also cool experiments and puzzles involving ink and water, electricity, matchsticks, candies-in-a-box and - most dramatically - building (then demolishing) an arch:

Loadsamoney

Since Saturday we've had a family game of Albany Monopoly going on, in fits and starts between other activities.

It became obvious a couple of days ago who was going to win.  I was bankrupted yesterday, and the Girl (seeing which way the wind blew) let me take over from her this evening so that I could be bankrupted all over again.  Not many minutes ago the Boy's joyful crowing announced that he was, as we had all foreseen, victorious. 

As the Man points out, there's not a lot of fun in Monopoly if you don't win.  This, I learnt recently, is entirely the original point of the game, which was invented by a Quaker to instruct people about the evils of unregulated capitalism. 

Of course winners, like our Boy, don't necessarily get that point.

Going to extremes

Judging by some of the comments on yesterday's blog entry, some of you feel my life here these days is becoming a bit unreasonably exciting.  To be honest, those readers that know me personally (so let's face it, I'm talking about most of you) could be forgiven for wondering Who is this all-skating/snowshoeing/skiing/outdoors-loving person, and what has she done with the real Albaniana?

Well, rest assured, the real me has stayed boringly at home today, and the most athletic thing I've done all day has been the ironing. 

While-sledding-off-the-roof extreme ironing, obviously...

Losing my grip

Sunday: ski day.  Both kids are doing really well now, going gung-ho down any terrain that faces them, be it bumps, forest paths or fast, steep slopes.  Falls don't phase them, they just scramble up and carry on.

In my group of adult learners we're generally more cautious and mindful of our relative lack of bouncebackability, so we're taking things a bit more slowly.  Even so, unfortunately today one of my classmates had a bad fall.  It wasn't her fault, someone skied in front of her and knocked her over.  She put her knee out (just a sprain, we all sincerely hope) and had to be sledded down by the Ski Patrol team.

Though it was sobering to witness this accident, after the lesson I still went ahead and tried out Joe's Special again.  All went well the first time, but on my second attempt I lost control and took a tumble myself, ending up some way downhill of a ski, a pole and my hat.  I managed to retrieve my equipment and make it down to the bottom safely, but then I suddenly felt the urgent call of a hot chocolate in the ski lodge.  I ended up staying inside while the rest of the family went up and down the mountain a half dozen more times.

I seem to be fine after my fall, apart from having hurt my thumb (pranged as I gripped the pole handle).  I shall no doubt be spending a couple of days reflecting on the usefulness of thumbs while I try to avoid using this one until it feels better.

We had an ice day

The kids and I kicked off the weekend with the annual celebration of International Ice Cream for Breakfast Day at our friends' house.  Ice cream + toppings = hyped-up kids...but as usual, to my surprise, the party went smoothly.

We headed home in time to grab a less sugary lunch before skating - we're now into the last session of lessons for the season.  For me the class was immediately followed by a snow-shoeing outing at Five Rivers, accompanying the Boy who'd been invited on a winter tracking birthday party.  It must be said, with a group of nine boys aged between eight and eleven there was never much chance of any serious tracking happening.  There was plenty of goofing around, however: snowballing, snow-eating, falling over, lying face-down in the snow to find out what that feels like etc etc.  As the instructor confided to me, "This is why I usually only take out Girl Scout groups."

Rather than the promised snow today, we've had light rain.  Innocuous-looking, but potentially deadly - it turns the freezing cold roads into skating rinks.  I had a close encounter with a snowbank on the way home from Five Rivers (no harm done, I was going very slowly), and the Man could barely stand upright on our black-iced driveway.  The rain may yet turn to snow overnight, to give us snow on top of ice - won't that be fun.

Mailboxed in

I wouldn't say the snow has caused us huge problems so far.  Drivng in it isn't much fun; and shovelling can be a bit of a chore, particularly when the snow is heavy with ice, but it's exercise I suppose.  However the more it stacks up (and we're told there's more on the way), the more I wonder where it's all going to go come the thaw. 

Meanwhile one minor inconvenience is getting at the mail.  I guess the mailman is high up enough in his little white van and can just lean across to pop the letters into our roadside box, but I find I have to half-scramble over a bank of snow to get them out again. 

But it could be worse - one set of neighbours has almost lost its mailbox altogether.

Happy Bunny Day

The Boy tells us it's Chinese New Year today - Happy Year of the Rabbit!

And it's his Dad's birthday.  There has been some happy gift-giving, cake-eating and Daddy-hugging this evening.

Also, we still have some snow knocking about - did I mention that before?

Snow big deal

Though we woke to four new inches of snow, and accumulated another couple over the morning, the much anticipated "mother of all snowstorms" was rather a non-event and had pretty much petered out before lunchtime.  In some ways we felt a bit short-changed, but on the other hand it was a relief not to have to deal with up to two extra feet of the white stuff in one day, as was being predicted by some forecasters yesterday. 

After all, it's really not as if we're short of snow as it is:

Snow much more to look forward to...

We woke up to about two inches of fresh snow, and more of the stuff steadily falling from the sky.  Yet school wasn't cancelled or delayed, so we had our normal morning routine, getting the Girl ready for the bus and the Boy ready for his morning walk (he really doesn't care for the bus these days).  In the time it took to trudge to school with him then come home again - about twenty minutes all round - another inch of snow had fallen.  And it kept on coming.

In the end, school was let out early - once everyone had put in enough hours so that it didn't count as a missed day.  Too many snow days and the time has to be made up over spring break, apparently. 

This latest photo of our deck was taken around 4pm - and still it went on snowing.  I reckon we've had six or seven inches altogether today - on top of what was still hanging around after previous falls, of course. 

But this is just the start.  The forecast says tomorrow is when it's really going to snow.

Watch this space...