Late Winter Mid-Michigan Style. . .

 Loading up the trusty Outback for some afternoon fun after a morning of meetings and student paper grading in the run up to Spring Break next week.

 I had the wooded trails all to myself during the early afternoon today. 

 Not a sound except for the quiet schuss-schuss-schuss of my skis and the occasional creaking tree limb.

The second time around was a bit faster as I retraced my tracks  but in reverse.

 

 My 90-minute jaunt went by all too quickly, but not before I snapped an obligatory shot of the 19-year old Norwegian skis that I purchased in December 1999 at the G-Sport in downtown Trondheim, Norway. 

I learned to cross-country ski the winter I was 33 while studying and conducting research on 19th century women dialect authors in Trondheim, Norway at The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the one time University of Trondheim.  It was a snowy winter that year, and the network of groomed and lighted municipal trails surrounding the city was extensive.  I was able to ski (clumsily given my beginner status), for example, from my front door in Steinan student village on the outskirts of the city up into the woods in just about 10 minutes.   

It was the perfect way to figure out the classic diagonal stride for propelling oneself along although I later did make sure to take one formal lesson that winter -- A grueling hour with a small, blue-eyed, blond instructor named 'Hans.' -- while visiting a large skiing resort at Geilo in southern Norway for a weekend of conference that February with the other Fulbright fellows in the country during the 1999-2000 academic year.   

Oh, and Hans and I managed to keep the entire lesson in Norwegian too, thank you very much. 

Wednesday afternoon, I once again indulged and strapped on the skis for an hour and a half or so of solo fun in the Michigan woods.  As a result, I was more relaxed than I have been since the last outing on skis at the start of the month.  And also very tired but in the best of ways.  Funny how some plain old physical exercise will clear the head and lead to that feeling of contentment. 

The Grand Duchess brought home Thai food for dinner yesterday evening, and the Young Master had a good day at school.  Continued cold and some more light snow throughout the next several days.  All is right in my small corner of the world.

-- Heinz-Ulrich