glad

Storm Lovers

Wispy Clouds
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First I would like to apologize for my lack of action on this blog over the past few months. Between working full time in the snow and managing a busy lodge, socializing with the guest at night time, I have not had much time to dedicate to writing at all. My fickle prepaid stick connection allowed me to post one story I had prepared earlier on a “good reception day” off. Despite that, I was pleased to still see regular visitors reading my stories and would like to thank everyone that stuck by me.

I did find a moment of inspiration again while doing the towies lunch relief shift, sitting in the top lift hut for an hour. That is the only time that I get a chance during my working day to “zone out” and relax to some degree, while keeping an eye on the poma’s and making sure they retract properly and not tangle around the cable, which would stop the lift until the technicians come down to fix it again.  Besides that I also make sure the few midday guests get off okay.

I love looking at the view over the valley’s and the sky from this tiny hut on top of the hill. In all the years I have worked there, I have started to notice a pattern in the weather, about which I wrote this recent poem:

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Storm Lovers

Wispy clouds looking like a feather,

talk to me about a change in the weather.

Next, the wind will come,

which can be quite scary for some.

Trees will blow over, branches will snap,

lifts will close and powder lovers… will clap!

For they all know that what comes after,

is the cause of so much fun and laughter.

They weather the storm just knowing,

their turns in the Powder will soon be flowing.

Big airs aloft,

with landings real soft.

Get your bases waxed,

because you know what is coming next!

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Yes, we did get some nasty storms this season, with one blowing over at least 6 trees across the track I use to get from the lodge to the main road and back. Thankfully this happened while I was at work and no one got hurt, but it did make for an adventurous trip home, attempting to get through. Lucky there was only one massive old gum tree, that left just enough room around the hole, where the roots used to be, to create a new path around it. Most of the others were small enough to drive over the thinner branches on the end of the trees. I stopped to try and drag one a bit more out of the way, because the branches were a little high and I was concerned they might snap and bounce back up, damaging the car in the process. As I did this, I was surprised to see headlights coming up behind me. Someone else as crazy as me tackling a four wheel drive track with obstacles in the dark! It was my friend and neighbor, who came through to check out if it was passable, because his partner had to go to work that night. I was pleased he turned up and helped me, because the tree was a lot heavier than I would have thought looking at it from the car. After saying my thanks and goodbye we both proceeded to drive home, grateful we made it there safely.

One of the snapped trees along my drive to work

One of the snapped trees along my drive to work

As I looked around the house, it became clear that this storm had been the worst one I had seen in all those seasons I had lived there. I found the cover of the chimney in the middle of the driveway with the pipe almost in the dam below the house. The couch, that used to be under the roof on the back deck had moved itself over to the deck behind the woodshed. The recently emptied recycling bin was completely missing, despite the fact that I had weighted it down with a few logs on top before I left for work in the morning. The old broken washing machine that had been up against the wall on another deck, awaiting a trip to the tip, was almost falling off the edge and the lid had detached itself and was a long way up the drive! There was a tree across the main drive to the house (I came up the other one) and a few more down around the house. I was so glad there was not more damage to the house! After I was satisfied with my efforts of tidying up for the night , I put my torch back in the car and made myself something for dinner.

The next morning I woke up to the pleasant surprise of fresh snow on the ground. Despite now being an adult, this still gives me the same excitement as when I was a child growing up in Europe. For those that have never seen snow, the closest thing to this feeling I can think about is when you wake up early as a child on Christmas Day to find Santa has visited and there are so many presents under the tree, you don’t know which one to open first! Snow on the ground may make the drive to work a little more hazardous, but the fun of playing or working in fresh snow far outweighs this issue. You just know that it is only there for a short time and have to enjoy it while it lasts.

Waking up to fresh snow is always exiting for me

Waking up to fresh snow is always exiting for me

This is not unlike life itself, where everyone has to get through numerous storms, but once the storm clears, we have to see and grab the opportunities it leaves us at the right time. As a result we can get exited about life again and look forward to this new chapter with gratitude. For if it was not for the storms in our lives, we would not appreciate and enjoy the good times as much!

I am so glad the storms of the past Winter season brought us so much fresh snow! It allowed me the to get plenty of work, complete my level 2 Alpine certificate, meet loads of beautiful new friends and guests and ski more miles than in any other season before. Of course practice makes perfect, so I also enjoyed it even more with my newly learned improved techniques.

Please share your thoughts on storms in your life in the comments below. I look forward to reading them!

Why I am exited about the coming snow season!

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I am going to start off with a flashback from last season:

August 29, 2013
Today l was sitting in the lift hut on top of the small beginners run, looking at some showers over a distant valley, thinking about the forecast for the coming week when the following poem came to me:

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“Wishful Thinking”

Grey clouds gathering above,
surrounding us with warmth and love.

Sending down some precious rain,
while I am wishing here in vain

for the cold air to return real soon,
to cover our hills once more in a fluffy white cocoon.

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This was the last day of that run being open for the season that ended in a fizzle for most Australian resorts with some closing a week prior to the end of the official season, which is normally the last weekend of September, due to lack of snow.

I had been enjoying working on this beginners run for 6 years now and knew what was coming, but tried to stay positive. Over the years I had dropped a few hints here and there on how snow making would make the run much more reliable for a large group of customers, that preferred the family atmosphere there, to the much larger and more crowded main resort. These hints were generally met with comments similar to the well known flying pigs one… In other words, the resort had a lot of other priorities to spend money on, before this was even a consideration.

The hole

Why is there a hole in the ground?

Easter this year, while up there to make preparations for Winter, like getting fire wood and cleaning the house, I went past the run to have a look if anything had changed. I noticed that someone had dug a big whopping hole, below the lower lift hut, right next to the fire hydrant connection! I could not help but wonder and hope. Was this a sign of preparations for snow guns to be installed?

Shortly after writing the above poem and thinking about how snow guns would have made my job easier and more reliable over the last few months, I had a conversation with a local council member about the possibility and talked about the positive impact I expected from having snow guns on the continuity of customers and revenue. This conversation was suddenly met with a little more hope raising response than any of my previous ones on this topic.

Snow Gun

Newly arrived

A few weeks back my attention was drawn to a post on Face Book, in which the announcement was made that confirmed my suspicions. The snow guns had arrived! I felt extremely exited! I am eager to find out what the coming snow season has in store and am so glad we now have snow making for everyone to enjoy!

Testing

Testing commences

It is difficult to prove what had changed, that all of a sudden people in charge decided that snow guns are an important asset for the revenue of the small slope, but I can’t help but wonder if my thoughts and poem had something to do with it. Was it just wishful thinking? Or can thoughts, like the ones mentioned in this story, actually become a reality? Through my own multiple experiences with this phenomenon, I have become convinced this is the case. Please share yours in the comments below. I am glad I never gave up on my dream to create better conditions for everyone on “my beloved ski run” and am looking forward to the coming season.

The lesson my dog taught me

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Gibbo

Gibbo

My dog, “Gibbo”, an 8 year old black and white Kelpie cross Labrador managed to totally surprise me in the last few days. I have been busy digging in the garden to create room for some old bricks that I want to move and pave under the old woodshed roof. This will be the floor of my new potting area, which was previously under the car port. Seeing that all the posts are rotten, I am expecting it to fall down sooner or later, so it is best to prepare for that day and move things away. The roof of the new potting area is not very high and I just fitted under it, standing up straight, leaving only about 3 cm’s to spare, so in order to put the bricks down, I had to lower the surface. It is a pretty massive job, seeing the clay is very dry and of course rock hard, so it feels like I am carving rather than digging!

Towards the end of the afternoon, Gibbo always gets a little restless in anticipation of our evening walk and indicated that he wanted me to stop digging and play with him instead. Unfortunately he does this by barking loudly, so I jokingly said to him to come and help me dig to shut him up. To my amazement he started digging! Not quite in the spot where I needed it most, but in one of the softer corners. That showed to me that he’s not silly! The last time I asked him to help me dig anything, was at least 7 years ago, when I had to dig some holes for the tree ferns I was relocating in my back yard. So he showed an incredible memory as well!

Next, my husband came home from a short visit. He yelled out to me over the gate, because he did not take his keys and needed me to open up the front door for him. I had locked it, because I could not hear if anyone would come into the house from the back of the yard. I went to open the door and as usual Gibbo followed me there to welcome my husband. He always greets you at the front door by picking up his favourite tennis ball, to show he is ready to play with you and excited you are home again, so he dropped the one he was playing with in the backyard and picked up a tennis ball. I went back to what I was doing and shortly after, Gibbo comes out again to check what I am up to. He decided he wanted to play some more and started his annoying barking routine again. This time I said to him to go get his ball. He looked around puzzled as to where it could be. Because he gets so excited about what is happening he does not seem to realize where he drops it, so I told him where he left it. I said: “You left it at the front door where we go out to do walkies”. I pictured it in my mind as I said it. I went on with what I was doing and he disappeared into the house, through his doggy door. A moment later, he was back with his beloved back yard ball! I was totally amazed at his comprehension and praised him for his cleverness and started to play with him and his ball.

This event proved to me that pets understand a lot more than we generally give them credit for! If you look into their eyes, you can see their soul and how they feel. If you respect them as an entity with feelings, just in a different body, they know this and you will be rewarded by their love and respect. You will gain a special bond that is different from any human interaction. I feel very blessed to feel so loved by Gibbo and have this understanding and communication with him. I am glad he came into my life, not only to learn this important lesson. What are your experiences with this? Please share in the comments.

How my Illness made me healthier than ever

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My mum was a very caring “stay at home” mum, who loved running a good household. There wasn’t a moment she didn’t have time for me whilst doing her duties as well. As most children, I suffered my share of childhood illnesses like the measles, chickenpox, the regular cold and occasional flue. When that happened it was very comforting to know that mum would go out of her way to make me feel as comfortable as possible in my condition. She would make me a cup of chicken stock and give me the medication the doctor prescribed. Sometimes she would buy me a little gift to feel better and sit by my bed a bit more then usual. I think she was so good to me because she could relate to feeling bad with chronic health problems herself. I guess you could say that to me as a small child it was a bit of a special time to be ill and it felt good to be spoiled despite the discomfort of the illness.

Now from a different perspective in adulthood, I realise that all that special treatment made me feel good and that I wanted more of that feeling, so as a consequence I “found” myself sick more often! (This is NOT a suggestion to neglect comforting ill children, but to try create balance and to encourage them to focus on the more rewarding benefits of being well). I was later diagnosed with Asthma, Hay Fever and other allergies as well as becoming known at the doctor’s as the kid with the unusual symptoms that could not be diagnosed and left him puzzled. I still remember what he jokingly said every time I came to see him: “Your a strange child and that’s what you are!” Mind you, he did sometimes have some strange ways of expressing his thoughts. One time I went to a Summer holiday camp and came down with a mysterious flecked skin and feeling unwell, conveniently at the moment I decided I had enough of being there…By the time mum picked me up and we arrived at the doctor’s, the skin had returned to looking normal! This memory proved to me that the mind does indeed influence the body.

As I since have learned while trying to understand my health issues, everyone has the ability to “make themselves sick” (mostly accidentally, unintentionally and subconscious) for whatever reason, but on the flip side if we focus on being healthy and feel good about being healthy we really can achieve good health. I discovered that being healthy is not a blessing, it is a choice! (It is not a brain one but a choice with determination you feel deep down from the bottom of your chest.) I made that choice when I finally realised that being sick was interfering with my life too much and holding me back from what I liked doing.

The final drop that caused me to feel very angry at the health care system and solidified my decision to ultimately free myself from all medication, was the response of a skin specialist I saw when I was about 19. After years of using cortisone cream and not seeing any improvement in my skin problem, I was getting desperate for a cure. It was so bad, I had to keep my hair from touching my face not to aggravate it. It would feel like my skin was on fire, also turning bright red in large patches and when that subsided it would itch really bad and the skin would peel off. I had to take the train for an hour to see this expert specialist, that was supposed to be able to do what the local specialists could not. After several appointments I straight out demanded to know what the cause was, as it seemed that not one of the many specialists I had seen for this problem had been able to tell me that. He did not hesitate to tell me that “stress” was the cause. Ok, that was great news, now I knew how to get rid of the skin problem, just get rid of the stress! In my opinion, if stress was the cause I should go and see a psychiatrist to combat stress instead of a skin specialist who gave me cortisone cream that was not having any positive effects on stress or the skin problem whatsoever! His response was: “That would not work, would you like another prescription for the cream?”!!! I felt so let down (and more stressed out), that I did not want to waste any more time than absolutely necessary in a doctors office!

I started “finding” the right information, every time I was ready to learn the next step, in books, health magazines and things people said to me. I discovered that my skin problem was caused by an allergic reaction to nail polish, after reading about that possibility in one of the books I found about curing allergies. It completely went away after I stopped using nail polish in less than a couple of weeks! I was baffled that those “clever” skin specialists never looked at my beautifully manicured hands! Despite my anger at them at the time, I am now extremely glad they didn’t, because that was the turnaround point in my life. This “victory” was the moment where I became ready to start taking responsibility for my own health. This ultimately has led me to start this blog to reach others that might need to hear what I have found out the hard way. Now I am back at a point that I can honestly say that there is definitely a need for doctors and they do good work too, but be selective if you need one and find the doctor that understands your needs and treats you as you deserve, with respect!

It took several years of changing my eating habits, finding the right (mostly mineral) supplements to boost my immune system and going to alternative health practitioners. I slowly changed the way I thought about health and what is possible. I can now confidently say I am completely free of any medication for the first time in my life and feel better now than when I was in my teens and twenties! I made the choice to be healthy and free of medication and things “fell into place” to make it a reality and I have learned to embrace life again! (I still catch an occasional cold like everyone else, but the severity has decreased dramatically and now not even once a year, 6x less than before.)

Now I can hear you think: “But what about the more serious and life threatening Illnesses, what about incurable diseases?” Well, I am glad I never let it get that far, but in my studies to regain my own health I have stumbled on many so called “miracles” that other people have written about, like Kit Campbell, who beat Crohn’s disease ( http://kitcampbell.com/about-kit/ ). That proves to me that the decision to focus on health also works for those cases, depending on the individuals ability to believe (and feel) the “unbelievable” and to read their inner compass.

For those that would like to learn more about the subject and aid their recovery from so called “chronic” and/or “terminal” illness, besides having the guidance of a good qualified doctor and/or specialist, I also recommend to look into works by Bruce Lipton PhD ( https://www.brucelipton.com/about ), Lissa Rankin MD ( http://lissarankin.com/ ), Andrew Weil MD ( http://www.drweil.com/ ), and others like them, who are much more knowledgeable, regarding the way the body and mind really work together, than me. Have an open mind, relearn to feel your own intuition and you will find your own miracles. I am glad I found my health, because it gave me so much more!

“I admit that thoughts influence the body.” —Albert Einstein-

Quoted by W. Hermanns in A Talk with Einstein, October 1943. AEA 55–285. http://einstein.biz/quotes.php

The Lady in the Supermarket continued…

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Yesterday, I put off going to the supermarket, for only a handful of groceries, again! I needed to take the dog for a walk as well, but for some reason I had a gut feeling that I should take the car and do the lazy “stop at the park on the way home walk”. Lucky I did, because after gathering my items and finding the shortest queue, I found myself lined up again (déjà vu) behind the lady from my previous story! I had not seen her since I wrote the story a few months back!

After a few moments of fear and hesitation, I found the courage to tell her about the story I wrote about our previous encounter. She gave me a puzzled look and asked why I wrote a story about her. I replied that I thought it was worth sharing, because it could make people happier. Next, I asked her if she had access to a computer, so she could have a look at it. She told me her daughter could help her, so I asked the attendant for a pen and some scrap paper to write my blog address down for the lady. I must admit that I stumbled a bit trying to remember how to actually write it on paper with the “http” and appropriate amount of dots and slashes. So I added “Word Press Blog” and wrote “story about ‘the ladies name'” followed by the title of the story, hoping that would be enough information for the daughter to locate it on the web.

I could tell she was still surprised and had quite a few questions as to my motive and what was so special about her that I had written a story about it. I assured her it was all good and that she should check it out to get the answers. I felt really good about the fact that I could return the good feelings and was hoping the story made her feel as good as what she had done to me on our previous encounter. As I walked out, I again felt the same way I did last time!

Thinking about this on the way home, I drove straight past the park and had to turn around to take the dog for his anticipated run! Poor boy, I was so happy, I could not wait to get home to write this down, because to me it felt like things “fell” into place, because I had thought about how nice it would be for her to read it as I published it last week! I am glad I acted on my gut feeling!

How annoying mobile messages saved my life

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Skikes in action

Skikes in action

In Autumn last year I decided to check out a new bike trail along a freeway close to home. I had purchased a pair of “Skikes”, which are like cross country ski’s on wheels just before Easter.

It was a beautiful Autumn Sunday after a period of cold weather and rain (this is Australia). I had to do quite a few chores on Saturday and had not been able to really enjoy the last of the sunny days before Winter, so by mid afternoon, after a few internet distractions, I could no longer delay the urge of boosting my vitamin D stores and put my Skikes, poles and the dog in the car to drive to the new trail. I realised that I only had a short window of time left before the sun would set, so a sense of urgency crept in.

Next my phone beeps with a message. This does not happen frequently, because I am a bit old fashioned and still use my landline more than my (“ancient”)mobile, which I only carry for emergencies. I waited till I got to the car park to look at it. It was a friend for whom I was looking after her place while she was away. She was helping a friend of hers clean up a rental property and everything was a lot worse than expected. She felt that this was putting a strain on their friendship. She was stuck there with no other transport options back besides her friends car. I suggested to look into bus fares or catch a train, via texting, which takes me a long time with the old phone. Then I proceeded to strap on my Skikes quickly.

The dog was very keen to go for a run with me and showed the typical signs of impatience and anticipation. Next, my phone beeps again! I look to see another message from my dear friend in need and am starting to get annoyed by this delay. Looking at my watch, I now have only an hour or so before dusk is going to set in! I did not plan on taking the phone with me because of the risk of it getting damaged in a possible fall, so I had to finalize this conversation quick. I text her back as fast as I could (not very) and locked the car to get going.

The wind had picked up a lot during the afternoon, which usually happens when there is a change in the weather on it’s way, but it was still not very cold. I did not have a lot of experience with my Skikes yet and there was a fair bit of debris from the huge pine trees on the path to watch out for. Cautiously I tried to find my rhythm, whilst keeping my eyes peeled for obstacles that could possibly trip me up (I have since learnt that when I am zipping along that the large pneumatic wheels on my skikes will actually roll quite easily over sizeable sticks, stones and even small tree roots, without a hiccup). Being such a nice weekend there were a few families out riding their bikes giving me smiles along the way, probably because they had never seen a cross country skier without snow before!

My dog was having a ball, running along and sniffing here and there. Next I hear a sound, not too far ahead, as if a bulldozer knocked down a tree. I remember thinking how strange it was on a late Sunday afternoon, that they were still working on the new trail!

I happily kept on going, feeling really good about the fact I was finally out here doing my training for Winter. After about two to three hundred meters, there was a little rise and as I got to the top of it, I suddenly realised that in front of me across the path was a massive old pine tree, that must have come down just moments before! It appeared that the wind had blown it over. With quite a bit of effort I managed to bush bash around it to continue down the path as fast as I could to get out of the pine tree lined area. Then slowly, as I recovered from the shock, the realisation set in, that I could have been right there, under that tree, if it had not been for my dear friend with her “annoying” messages!

Next time I am annoyed by something, the first question I ask myself is: I wonder why this is happening? I can’t wait to see and am so glad for being alive!

PS My friend resolved the issues she had soon after and everything worked out well for her too.
Also: For people interested in finding out more about Skikes, check out their website: http://www.skike.com.au
(There is even a picture of me having fun on my skikes at http://www.skike.com.au/gallery.html )