The results are in...

Sometimes you put in your best effort but don't even make the medals.

And sometimes...

...you win GOLD!

Congratulations to our golden Girl, who took first place in her group at Lake Placid today.

Let the Games commence!

No, no, not those Games in Sochi...  Much more exciting (for us): the 34th Empire State Winter Games in Lake Placid!

Like last year, our Girl is competing.  Her event is tomorrow, but we got here tonight for the opening ceremony.  Gosh, it was long.  Lots of similar speeches.  Lots of name-checking of local dignitaries.  Lots of young athletes parading round the 1980 Olympic rink - figure skaters in particular, our daughter among them (Look out for a girl in a black jacket with long blonde hair, said the Man hopefully, as 800 of the same marched past).

More speeches.  A compilation video of winter sports (all of them insane and mostly dangerous).  A demonstration of ice barrel jumping - that is, jumping over barrels while on skates - by the ice barrel jumping world champion (hard to imagine he has a lot of competition, but what do I know?).

Then suddenly the torch was lit and that was that.

Tonight, oh, go on then - we'll watch a spot of Winter Olympics on the hotel telly.  Tomorrow let's hope the Girl is ready for action.

Away with the fairies

The weather came through on its promise of a snow day.  It was snowing when we woke up and it's still snowing now.  It's at least nine inches deep in our neighbourhood, so I can't imagine how much must have fallen on higher terrain.  Not a bad effort at all.

The Man worked from home (with breaks to shovel the drive, sometimes assisted by the Boy).  The rest of us pottered about. I had a fit of craftiness and made these (with credit to the writers of this book):

Snow hope

Not such an exciting day for me.  We've continued to have problems with our heating, so I had to wait in for the men to come back and have another go at fixing it.  I think we're sorted out now, with a new thermostat inside the furnace to stop it from overheating.

I hope we are sorted out, as tomorrow is set to be a snow day: 100% chance of precipitation, according to the forecast, starting in the small hours.  The storm has been given quite a build-up. The kids will be bitterly disappointed if school isn't cancelled for the day (a few teachers are counting on a day at home, too, I suspect).

Well, it's about time for some more snow, anyway.  The last lot has all but melted and everywhere looks very brown and drab.  So bring it on (but without power cuts to go with it, please).

The Man adds...On Saturday we ventured deep into the frozen woods of Five Rivers, specifically the North Loop and the Big Pine trail.  We had the two mile trail entirely to ourselves. It's amazing that after all this time, there are intriguing areas of the Center that are almost unknown to us.

Several happy returns

 Happy Birthday to the Man!  Gifts, cake and the this-seems-to-have-turned-into-a-tradition photo: compare and contrast with 2011, 2012 and (belated due to travel) 2013.

Super Bowl-ski

The forecast wasn't too promising for today's skiing outing.  However, the rain had stopped by the time we got out on the slopes, and though clouds hung low and made it rather foggy at the top of the mountain, the snow quality was good.  On our previous ski-trips this year various combinations of cold, conditions and my personal demons have prevented me from really having a good time. But today everything seemed to click into place and I enjoyed every run (and there were many).

The Girl hooked up with a snowboarding friend, so we didn't see much of her all afternoon.  I skied a few runs with the Boy - well, I say that.  We rode up on the lift together a few times, but once on the slopes he didn't hang around for the likes of me. He just merrily swung his sticks over his head before tucking them under his arms, pointing his skis and hurling himself down the mountainside.

By early evening we almost had the mountain to ourselves.  American skiers had headed home early for that annual cultural event, where they all sit around eating chips and chicken wings, watching commercials that are occasionally interrupted by some sort of sporting contest.

The eyes have it

We have a hairy house-guest - just for one night, the little fella from next door. He doesn't seem too thrilled to be here.

The Boy took this picture:

As he says, "Have I not captured the essence of melancholy?"