Ski Bums

It's had been two years since Noa and I had hit the slopes (though the boys went last winter), and with the school year waning and Owen's departure for college looming,  I was adamant that we needed to get some sort of family trip in this year. This was challenging because Allen started a new job with more travel, the kids have completely different school schedules and I've been in the throes of finalizing regs to beat the Congressional Review Act. Allen finally identified a long weekend he though would work, right after he got back from a trip to Richland (assuming he made it back), Noa was still on Spring Break, and Owen's various instrumental performances were cancelled. So while the stars were briefly aligned, Allen booked a four day (two of which involved skiing) trip to Deer Valley, UT. Over the Easter weekend.

We were all a little anxious given Allen's last work trip to Richland, but amazingly (after he rebooked his flight out through Salt Lake City instead of Minneapolis due to a snow storm) he made it home on Wednesday in time to pack for an early Thursday departure. Everyone got up at the proper hour, we made it to the airport early enough to window shop for socks and get breakfast before we boarded the plane. We did not check in early enough, however, so that we could all sit together, which meant that we all took various middle seats throughout the plane and Noa got to sit next to someone that ate hardboiled eggs the entire flight.

When we arrived in Salt Lake, we retrieved our luggage, took a shuttle to the rental car place, and then found a lovely brewery in downtown Park City for a late lunch. Afterwards we stopped by a grocery store for supplies before heading to Deer Valley as some incredibly fat snowflakes started falling.

We dropped stuff at the house and then walked down to the main lodge before we swung by the rental place to pick up skis (we'd decided to not bring skis since Noa's don't fit and the rental cost versus the hassle of checking them was a bit of a wash) and then headed back to the house for a pseudo dinner and some quality hot tub time (and strangely a snow angel from Allen).

The next morning there were several inches of fresh powder and kind of ideal conditions for skiing – cloudy but good visibility, temperatures in the low thirties and not too many people (oddly, not a lot of people go skiing on Good Friday). The morning was good. We'd promised Noa we would get them a pair of socks from the sock store at BWI if they found some form of currency in the snow, so when Noa saw a run called "Legal Tender" they renegotiated so that as long as they made it down the trail, socks would be theirs.

Noa had a few falls in the morning (one of which was pretty bad) so after a hot chocolate break, Allen took them back to the house while Owen and I got in a few nice blues, then we met Allen for lunch before I headed back to the house so that the boys could go do some crazy stuff (but not too crazy given Owen has a senior recital coming up next month and Ms. Purdie was not excited about this trip). After the boys got home, we cleaned up and headed out to a lovely dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant and then gathered for another night in the hot tub (Noa demurred) as it began snowing even more. Then we all crashed.

Noa and I didn't sleep that well, and so the boys headed off in the morning to explore the fresh powder while the two of us slept in. We met up with them at the base where they gave us the skinny: foggy with terrible viability up top and melty, icy snow lower down. After a equipment related fall at the top of the lift, Noa informed us they had three falls for the day and then were done. Despite the fact that they didn't fall again, they still wanted to cut it short and so after a late start and early lunch (it was still pretty crappy conditions), so Noa and I turned in our skis and went home. The boys lasted a little longer but came home an hour or so later. We had one more dip in the hot tub, ate leftovers, did laundry, packed, had then crashed.

We woke up the next morning to some serious snow fall, which was bit bittersweet for Allen. It also made the drive back to Salt Lake City pretty painful. But once we returned the rental car, checked in, made it through security and had breakfast we all relaxed. And while it was a short trip, hopefully we'll still manage to get some more ski outings in after Owen leaves for school.

(To see all the ski pics, click here.)

Meanies

Burke's Spring Musical this year was Mean Girls. As a freshman, Noa was largely relegated to the chorus, though that didn't stop them from developing a fully fleshed out back story for their alter-ego, 

Theodore, the younger brother of popular, over-achiever, Calvin, who has a love/hate relationship with Rachel, who they propose to at the Spring Fling, are turned down, and then celebrate the end of the toxic relationship by dancing with their friends (or something like that).

The cast and crew did a great job and it was especially exciting for us since in addition to seeing Noa, we got to see Owen's best friend (and the villain in many a Stuart-Hobson theater performance) Adam perform as Kevin G – head of the Mathletes – for his last (and only) high school musical performance. He kind of slayed it and as the kids say (or at least try to), the whole thing was very fetch.

(To see all the pictures, click here).

Color Wall

 

My great uncle Joe Cox was a professor in the School of Design at NC State and designed the ‘Color Wall’ light mural installation at the University library in 1972. The original installation used a mechanical timer and switching device he invented to control a row of 23 lights with seven different colors that projected on a wall creating different colors as they overlap and black metal vanes casting casting colorful shadows as they block the light from different angles. The ‘Color Wall’ was restored in 2010 replacing the original mechanical switching device with a digital controller. 

I have so many fond memories of visiting my Aunt Bets and Uncle Joe as a child, but I never had the chance to see his ‘Color Wall’ until a work trip took me to NC State. Seeing it in person was a moving experience, and it was wonderful seeing how much the community here still loves this wonderful artwork. So glad to see that the University has established an endowment to preserve the ‘Color Wall’ for generations to come.

 

(Click here for all the pictures)

The mural takes light apart and puts it back together again on the white mural surface. The black creates maximum contrast to the lightness of the colors for heightened emotional response.

 
It creates a color experience as you walk down the hall. It was designed for the space. It is a space in which people are in motion. The light patterns change at irregular intervals about 32 times every two minutes. This is about two changes in the time that it takes a person to walk past it. The changes restimulate you so that you don't have to look at a static situation. Change and variety are important to us.

 
Actually the mural reverses the process of painting. Paint breaks up white light and the paint subtracts some of the light frequencies. But the wall of the mural is white and the individual colors are added. The black anodized forms that are set on various angles perform the subtraction by casting shadows. The light also provides a luminosity that paint does not have.

-Joe Cox, 1972

Saints Alive!

On a very raining Saturday morning, Owen, Allen and I headed to St. Mary's City, MD for Accepted Seahawks Day. While Owen is still waiting to hear from several schools (including favorites Grinnell and Colorado College and Allen's alma mater, William & Mary), of the colleges he's been accepted to already, St. Mary's College (a small, public liberal arts honor college in southern Maryland) is at the top of the list. And despite the gloomy weather (and a very odd play list for the schools premier vocal group, Ping, which included Welcome to New York and Shake It Off), Owen had a great visit.

After the intro session, we forced Owen to talk to the Econ Department. Afterwards, he independently had some really good conversations with faculty and students from the Political Science, Public Policy and History Departments. We checked out the climbing gym after which Owen talked extensively to some members of the climbing club about student setting, ratings and local climbing outings. We toured dorms, the docks, the fine arts hall and the baseball fields. We had lunch at the Niche Rated #1 Best College Food in Maryland Dining Hall. And we had break out session for the parents and students, so we could find out all the logistics of St. Mary's while Owen heard about the challenges of choosing a good roommate.

By the end of a long the day, the sun had come out and Owen seemed really happy and comfortable with the school. And while Allen may have confused a lot of people by sharing an Instagram post which suggested Owen had already made his choice, he's still waiting and mulling things over (we promise there will be a blog post once he decides). 

But at least he has some good options to mull.

(To see all the St. Mary's pictures, click here.)