An eleven out of ten day!!!  My kind of perfect!  Yesterday Geoff called and asked if we would like to go skiing with him and Lindsey.  At first I said no, that I was meeting my friend Kathy for dinner.  Then I had a message from Kath and she was going to do a yoga class before dinner and suggested we meet at 7.  I thought about it for a few minutes and decided why not do both!!  So called Geoff back and said we were in.

The alarm went off at 5:30 AM this morning, and honestly I rolled over and thought to myself "What the heck was I thinking when I said we'd go skiing today?"  Dragged myself out of bed and hauled on my ski gear and took Boomer out for his morning walk.  Geoff and Lindsey picked us up at 7 AM and we were off to the mountains.  I had no idea what to expect in terms of endurance and how I would do but was pleasantly surprised.  On the second run we were onto the black diamonds and then went on to do double black diamonds.  Now I will not kid you that it was easy!  I was puffing pretty good on most runs but everyone was great about waiting for me and we all had a blast.  After lunch Geoff and Lindsey took us down a run called ER....how appropriate.  I thought I had skied everything at Louise as I have been skiing there since I was a kid which would be for about the last 50 years but I have never even seen this run open until today.  Today was the first day this season they were letting skiers onto the run.  There was powder to be found here and it was pretty darn steep.  Off we all went and about a quarter of the way down I crossed my tips, went head over heels, landed on my back with my head down the mountain and started the slide down the mountain.  I felt like I was riding a crazy carpet as I zoomed by Bill.  At the same time that I crashed, Geoff jumped off a cliff, did a flip, lost both skies and earned himself loud cheers and groans from skiers spectating from the chair lift.  As I was sliding down I kept thinking I was probably going to go over a cliff or bump my head on one of the boulders scattered along the way. I was thinking it was a darn good thing I was wearing a helmet (which I only started wearing last year).  Wouldn't it be ironical to go through the year I've been through and then bite it on the ski hill my first time back!!!???  Finally came to a stop but looked like the abominable snowman.  Meanwhile Lindsey was helping Geoff locate his skies which had gone helter skelter.  Clearly, he just had to out do me!  I thought my fall was pretty spectacular but his was doubly so!

Today, I was introduced to the reality of mid week skiing!  Honestly, I'm not sure I ever want to ski on a weekend again.  We started at 9:30 AM, finished at 3PM and never lined up once in the entire day!  There was no problem finding a place to sit at lunch time.....it was wonderful!

Kelli was working in the ER today with the anaesthetist who looked after me during my first surgery.  I asked Kelli how I was doing and she smiled at him and said "Great...she's out skiing today!"  I guess the guy just about fell over!

On the way home I got a message from Kathy...she was still at Gull Lake and just heading home.....with the flu so our dinner date has had to be put on hold.  I was disappointed as we had been looking forward to a good catch up but the rest of the crew were more than willing to fill in for her and we all headed over to Kinjo's in Dalhousie Station for a delicious dinner of Sushi!!!  What a perfect day and one I won't forget for a long, long time!  Family, fresh air, beautiful scenery and activity!  What more could a person ask for???

I need to work on my ski wardrobe!  So behind the times when it comes to "colour blocking".  There was a jacket in the ski shop today that was tri-coloured.  I told Lindsey that when I was about 12 I had a jacket almost identical to it.  My mom bought it so she could spot me on the hill.  I hated the darn thing because it was obviously "before its' time."  It was Navy Blue, fluorescent pink and lime green striped.  Believe me....there was no missing me on the hill!  Just as there is no missing these two....Lindsey in purple and yellow....Geoff in Green and blue!  They look awesome!