Off To The Slopes Continued

Well as you can see, I never returned to my blog yesterday.  More to follow on that story.

We got to the school at 6:45 as requested, and wonder of wonders everyone was there by 6:50.  A quick headcount, load the bus and off we headed to the peaks.  It was a pretty uneventful bus ride.  The kids were pretty groggy yet -- no, there was no sleeping.

We arrived in at the slopes about 8:45, piled off the bus, and got our instructions as to what to do.  Everyone has to go to ski school first to be sure they were safe to tackle the real hills. Most of the students quickly progressed from here. It was sunny and bright, but there was a harsh biting wind that just chewed through you for the first couple of hours.

My duty was to stick with the ones who would need time training on the "bunny hill".  I had four that were basically all beginning skiers.  Two of them advanced fairly quickly.  A third girl started complaining about her leg before we even got to ski school.  Two passes down the easy slope and she wiped out in tears.  Ski patrol was summoned and we went to the first aid station, where she was carefully questioned and examined.  It appears she had an injury a couple of weeks back, wore a tensor bandage for a few days and was deemed recovered.  Yesterday when she got laced into her boots, she left her pants inside the boot, so that extra pressure plus the old injury appears to have caused some pain (probably not warranting the histronics she went through though).  Drama queen flitted through my mind, as I think it did through ski patrols' too.  Their recommendation was not to ski any more that day -- off to the chalet.

So with everyone else pretty much advancing to the ski lift and hills, that left me pretty much able to enjoy the chalet and babysit my patient.  There were actual alpine trials going on, on the one hill.  That was pretty fascinating to watch and listen to the camera commentary.

My intent, as I stated yesterday was to read and write.  I did get a fair bit of reading done.  I took an old library-discard book I had picked up a year or two ago and never got the chance to read -- Pioneer Settlements In Upper Canada, by Edwin C. Guillet.  It was quite a fascinating read, and I marked down a few passages that I will probably comment on in future blogs.  I had planned on writing a couple of blogs too while I was sitting there, but there was just such constant ebb and flow of people and conversation around me, that it was hard to get inspired.  What I did do though was come up with a list of potential blog topics - 47 to be exact.

I was sitting in front of a large window facing the slopes and the sun was making it lovely and toasty.  Unfortunately shortly after noon, the sun went under and I lost my wonderful radiant heat source.  There were fireplaces in the chalet, but nobody seemed to have any pioneering spirit about them, to go get wood and light them.  I would have, but I think that might have been slightly frowned upon.

At 2:30 we went to round up the troops to get ready to head to the bus.  It is quite a process getting all the right people in the right place at the right time.  We had parents who drove as well.  Some of them brought their own children.  Some of the children elected to ride on the bus with their friends, and then those numbers all shifted and shimmied for the ride home.  Anyway, we did get all the required bodies loaded on the bus and headed for home.  Again, it was a fairly uneventful trip home -- couple of sleeping beauty photo ops.  That was about it.

We got back to the school at 5:00 and dropped the kids off to their waiting parents.  For some reason, I seemed to suddenly take a major chill.  I just couldn't stop shaking, waiting for those last parents to arrive.  When I got home, the first thing I determined to do was pour a hot, steamy bath to try and stave off the tremors.

An hour of soaking, later, and I was still sending out ripples on the surface of the water with my shaking.  It was obviously something more than just a good chilling down.  I also was now very dizzy and my hair was starting to hurt.  I know, I know, everyone tells me I'm such a wimp, when I get sick.  But it happens so rarely, one has to make the most of the event. So I bundled myself up and got into bed, cocooned in enough blankets and clothing to suffocate a yak.  Eventually I started to heat up, then simmered and boiled for a bit.  Around 3:00 am I awoke this morning, complete drenched.  My fever had obviously broke.

Anyway, I feel pretty good again this morning.  So hopefully it was only a twelve hour bug.

And that is about all I have to say for today.

Musings and meanderings from the Musical Gardener.