Time for the Annual Ski Trip

I'll see you upon my return! Or sooner, if a creative streak finds me and I decide to write in these pages while I am on the slopes.

The Snow Storm
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air
Hides hill and woods, the river, and the heaven,
And veils the farmhouse at the garden's end.
The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet
Delated, all friends shut out, the housemates sit
Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of storm.
Come see the north wind's masonry.
Out of an unseen quarry evermore
Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer
Curves his white bastions with projected roof
Round every windward stake, or tree, or door.
Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work
So fanciful, so savage, nought cares he
For number or proportion. Mockingly,
On coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths;
A swan-like form invests the hiddden thorn;
Fills up the famer's lane from wall to wall,
Maugre the farmer's sighs; and at the gate
A tapering turret overtops the work.
And when his hours are numbered, and the world
Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,
Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art
To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone,
Built in an age, the mad wind's night-work,
The frolic architecture of the snow.

Ah....The Mountains!

Everyone needs a little holiday every now and then. So once the Snowflake Ball and the Burns Night events were done, I determined that I should get away for a little while and take a holiday. Rather than searching for warmer climates, I decided to take advantage of the cold and head to the mountains where I might find even cooler, more crisp air. And SNOW! I do love to ski.

Thankfully, the last minute details of ensuring that Loch Avie is cared for, and that the distillery, MI5, and the Academy training grounds are monitored came together quite nicely. Lady Kate Nicholas has volunteered to mind the distillery for me as well as tend to the day-to-day needs of Nellie and the Loch. She has been working on a water pumping and filtration system for the distillery anyway, so this seemed like not too much of an imposition on her.

Colonel Somme with his new Lancers riding gear.

Colonel Somme, Commanding Officer of the Caledon First Lancers, came by to offer his assistance, and I was pleased to take him up on it. He and Lt. Colonel O'Toole will assist by having the Lancers patrol the Loch on a little more frequent basis, and will ensure - along with Sir Telemachus - that the Academy training grounds are safe and maintained. I also have made arrangements with a few of my operatives to keep MI5 running smoothly in my absence.



Once I completed the details with Lady Kate and Colonel Somme, I had a little time to make my rounds and to wait on the water taxi, which would ferry me to the waiting airship.





I truly look forward to my time in the mountains. The beauty of them renews my soul as does that first run in the morning. That run in which my skis make the first tracks in the virgin snow, and all that may be heard is the schooshing of my skis, the soft falling of snow, and the sounds of nature.

a skiing poem by Jim Vaughn

The landscape, surrounded by whispers of snow, and the occasional glimmer of dancing sunlight, as it kisses the clouds.

Standing before me, beckoning me, like the siren’s call, of the ancient mariner.

Drawing me out, upon the steep pitch, coaxing me ever closer to the abyss of pleasure.

I ascend into the chute, careening like a bowling ball, thrown downward, bouncing, picking up speed by the second.

I stick my pole, deep into the virgin snow, which had yet to be tracked that day.

Feeling it sink, then suddenly take hold, I turn, and before my eyes, is the euphoric rush, of seeing nothing but the trees, entrenched into the rock wall, like centurions poised to repel attack.

The ski’s under my feet become weightless, I hang ever so delicately, in the sweet embrace of gravity.

I feel the air rushing around me, the kaleidoscope of colors, that once, was the rock wall, flashes by.

My eyes begin to focus, forever it seems, I’m free of the restraints that bind me to the earth.

Abruptly, my descent stops, jarred back into reality, my legs start pumping again, I slide into the next turn, and start the whole process over again.

Sometimes One Just Needs To Leave The Work

Even as the preparations for the Burns Supper are all coming together - and hard work still ahead - sometimes it's just good to heed the call of a friend who says, "You MUST come see this."

Such was the call I received from Lady Kate last night. She had been exploring in the mainland fairly near Sir Adso's latest property, and came across a beautiful and fun set of Protected Land Sims. She and I do share a winter-time passion: skiing. So that was all she had to say when I responded to her initial call. "There is skiing! Skiing across three sims!"



She was unfortunately not able to stay in world for too long once I arrived in the sim, but she did show me the slope and took a run or two downhill with me.

Near the bottom of the run

Well lit even for night-time skiing

I made the run a number of times. The whole of the experience is gorgeous and fun, unfortunately the lift does not actually work. Working "magic chairs" (as my typist's children call them) would have made the experience nearly perfect. The Lindens do provide free skis and poles (no scripting), and the ski animation which takes you all the way to the lake at the bottom of the run.


After skiing several times, I flew around for a little while finding not only beautiful vistas, but also a sledding run. Wheeeeee!

Double Black Diamond Sledding Hill????
w00t!

Just the break I needed.....



Now back to the planning and preparation for Burns Night with renewed vim and vigor. The cold air, and exertion of sport does wonders for the mental health of your Duchess.

Sláinte!!

The Latest in Winter Sports

It just doesn't get much sillier than this.

Last evening found me working on setting up a few more things for the St. Andrew's Day Celebration....well....I only actually got the Caber Toss set up near the Loch after I put a haggis on to boil in the outdoor cook pot. And then I noticed that there was someone in the Loch - two someones actually. I went over to greet my guests. The first person I found was Lady Kate Nicholas, who was working on a manuscript of some sort while watching Nellie swim through the water and ice flows. I said hello, but did not disturb her for much longer than that, save to mention that the Royal Society has been called upon to discuss the Time Acceleration Theory of Second Life.


As I flew up to the mountain, I found Colonel Hotspur O'Toole skiing. We chatted for a little while about his new skis and that I have been looking for a ski vendor for Loch Avie, as my typist is an avid skier in RL. He seemed quite satisfied with the skis that he had found and was good enough to pass the designer information to me.







I went back down to work a little more, when I found that Kate had pulled the haggis out of the pot and was kicking it about in the snow.

Haggis Footie!!

This soon only got sillier when Hotspur slid down our side of the mountain and began to push the haggis while on skis. Well, being the gentleman that he is, he could not let two ladies attempt to play a game of Haggis Field Hockey without skis. He was good enough to request that SLExchange send us each a pair of skis. There was no stopping us now!





He did at one point make the mistake of going AFK.....


but that only gave us another sport: Chicken and Haggis Jumping - it's the latest in Caledonian Xtreme Sports.

The Tandom Chicken-Haggis Jump

After Lady Kate retired to her offices, Hotspur and I decided to put the haggis and the chickens away and head back up the mountain.

The view from the highest point in Loch Avie

Hotspur skis with my Will-O-Wisp

Then the call for FREE DRAGONS came along....and poof....we were there. I have not yet tried mine on, but I think I am gonna like this.

I think St. Andrew would approve of our new winter sports...perhaps there may be a game of Haggis Footie or Field Hockey in our future at the revelry tomorrow night.