Trying out Skate Skiing

Only on Friday I blogged about patched of ground showing through the melting snow on a golf course used for x-country skiing during the winter. On Saturday morning, my friend Suzanne called to invite me to go skiing. Very quickly I realized that the Weston Ski Track she was talking about was the very golf course/skiing track I see from the train window every morning.

Together Suzanne and I, experienced classical skiers, took a private lesson in skate skiing. It turned out to be easier then it looked. Now I cannot wait to try skate skiing up in Snoqualmie.

Прогалины

Looking out the train window this morning, I noticed how much snow melted in the last few warm days we had. Large areas of brown dirt showed through the dark snow still covering the golf course used for x-country skiing during the winter. The Russian word for such a patch of bare ground, somehow exuding spring warmth even on a winter morning like today, is прогалина (progalina).

Immediately the word made me feel nostalgic, perhaps because I do not remember ever using it since I moved to the US. Somehow ground peeking through melting snow just does not come up in the few conversations I carry on in Russian these days.

Прогалина reminds me of elementary school, of reading about nature. It reminds me of the days when I was told almost daily and truly believed that Russia was the most beautiful country on Earth. It reminds me of Tyutchev, Bunin, Prishvin, Paustovsky--writers whose works I have not read in decades. And it makes me yearn for spring more then ever.

White Christmas in Walla Walla

We drove over to Walla Walla on Tuesday only to find it blanked by almost three feet of snow. While it regularly snows in Eastern Washington in winter, people in Walla Walla have not seen this much snow for at least 40 years.

Here are some photos I took while on a walk on Wednesday morning.

Snowed In In Western Washington

I interrupt my coverage of our Thanksgiving holidays to bring you a glimpse of the beginning of our Christmas holiday in the Pacific Northwest.

Some background first. Woodinville, Washington, is a Seattle suburb, located to the east of Lake Washington and just north of the town of Redmond. The average temperature in Woodinville for December is comfortably above freezing--high of 46F, low of 35F. It hardly ever snows here, and when it does, the snow melts away in a blink of an eye. They sand, but do not salt the roads here on principal. Given how little snow usually falls here, there is little snow removal equipment sitting around.

When we arrived here on Thursday, there was already over a foot of snow on the ground. Since Saturday night, at least another 6 inches fell. The temperature yesterday barely edged above the freezing point and went right back down to the low of 27F. And the roads... Well, no one is clearing the local roads. There is just barely enough equipment to clear the highways, and state routes. The buses are running with chains around their rear tires.

As for us, we ventured out with sleds.