Windjammer Ski Vacations

Good Morning Everyone. We are back home this morning. The temperature is 6 degrees out in the dooryard and the sky is as clear as a bell. While sunrise is 0715 it doesn’t actually clear the ridge to the east of our humble acres ‘til 0755. The almanac says that today (0715) is the actual mid-point of winter, Ground Hogs Day aside. We had a few inches of snow here at the global headquarters while we were away. Building a fire in the barn I noticed that Kaitlyn did a great job sanding and priming one of our small boats and filling the firewood while we were gone. She’ll be here today painting. I have pictures to share of skiing, cutesy family stuff.

So I am not very good at many things, particularly leaving home base and letting go of all the doings around our windjammer business. I took the laptop with us and checked the business email. I talked to people in the base lodge and on the lift about the schooner and what we do. This is what we do, live, breathe, eat, think; windjammer vacations and schooners. Of course there is more to our family than the schooner but it becomes the warp and weft of this rich tapestry that is our lives. Still…. here are 5 things I need to do to really go on vacation, in no particular order.

1) Turn off the cell phone. Let it go Cap! There is nothing you can do about it anyway and if your business can’t survive your absence for a few days then you have not done a good job training those folks back home.
2) Live in the present with your friends and family. Stop talking about the boat…. even when asked...it isn’t here and now.
3) Enjoy just sitting still. Activity is good but it can be distracting so take a minute to just sit and watch (inside and out), good to do on the ski lift or the decks of a schooner.
4) Enjoy good food and a beer. That is my favorite thing to do.
5) Roll with it and don’t push. The experience is what it is. Friday the weather and skiing were great. Saturday the new snow was fantastic but it was cold and windy. The mountain had to close a few lifts in the gusty west wind. I could feel my innards fighting the weather and the price of lift tickets and the crowds of people. It is difficult to just let it be what ever it is and let go of the expectations that one day’s perfection will be like the next day’s perfection. It really is all good if you just let it be good. A pileated woodpecker reminded me of that as it flew right past the chair we were sitting on. Cold and wind and a magnificent bird close enough to touch all keeping us locked in to the here and now (see #2). Very cool.

So there are probably more insights in here somewhere. It feels good to be home.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

PS. Ed recently asked what was so great about the July 15th cruise I wrote about last week. Ed, that was a random selection on my part but like the biting cold and wind and pileated woodpecker, it was another cruise filled with natural wonders keeping us in the present. Every cruise is like that for me when I follow my afore mentioned advice.

PSS Alton, thanks for confirming my calculations on energy consumption.

Hail Mary

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