Well, yesterday and today I've made it out to Burchfield Park skiing. Yesterday I could only ski for about 45 minutes because I had to come back to have phone conferences with my students. But today I got to stay and do the whole 4.5-mile loop. I was out for about an hour and 45 minutes - which just sounds pathetic, I know; I probably could have crawled faster.

But I did stop frequently to take pictures - and phone calls. (At one point I put my phone to my ear inside my balaclava, which actually worked pretty well - sorta like a hands-free headset . . . )

Anyhow, so here are the pictures I took en route, in the order I took them, and more or less without editing - I wanted to get them out there so I didn't stop to straighten the horizon lines, etc. You're supposed to be looking at the wonderful colors in the sky and the snow . . . Notice how it gets darker (and the snow gets bluer) as I go along.

This one's just past the trailhead, looking out at the Grand River (which is snow-covered; imagine it on the other side of that brown fence, which is actually an overlook.)



The river looking in the other direction:



The beginning of the Blue Trail:



More river:



Sun starting to set:






About a minute after I took this one I saw half a dozen or so whitetail deer running across the field. I've never seen anything like it before . . .



As I got back closer to the trailhead (and the shorter inner loops), I saw that they'd put out the "smudge pots"; the trail is lit on Friday nights.






All in all, a very satisfying outing. Next time I go I'll take pictures of the awesome toboggan run and tubing hill.

One of the calls I took while I was out was from Diane, reminding me that tonight was Book Club night. So, after I was done skiing I hopped in the car and drove down to Ann Arbor for a wonderful evening (and meal of pea soup and salmon aspic) discussing a book I hadn't read . . . (This never fazes me. It's a skill I developed in grad school.:)

So now I face a weekend of lots of work, but having skied twice in the past two days, I'm ready to hunker down in my room and look at the snow instead of playing in it. (Wouldn't be as much fun to go to the park on the weekend, anyway; I might have to share the trail with someone.) I'm sure that, come sunset, the snow will call me to the golf course, at least . . .