Feed the Need for Speed

Tenzing started skiing this winter; but I was in India, and didn’t have a chance to see him on the hill, much less to teach him myself. Thanks to my mother, and a nice late season at Kirkwood, Zing and I were able to spend the day together cutting-it-up.

I credit ski racing as the single most positive, thoroughly formative influence in my life, from which so many other great things have cascaded. It taught me invaluable lessons about the abundance and easy accessibility of joy, the power of fearlessness, the fascinating relationship between the mental and physical sides of human perfectibility, and the pleasure of kicking ass. It would not disappoint me in the least to see Zing’s obvious love of speed and well-carved turns take him in the same direction.

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Eat the Damned Food

I leaned to my right and whispered into Tenzing’s ear so that no one else could hear. My secret message was soon shared with everyone at the table, if not everyone in the restaurant.

“Mimi,” said Tenzing, referring to my mother, “Markie said I should eat the damned food. Do you think I should eat the damned food? I’m not sure I want to eat any more of the damned food.”

Surprise

I was just begining to stir after an excellent night’s sleep when Tenzing announced himself excitedly at my door. “Markie,” he bellowed, “you need to come down to the garage quickly because there is a surprise for you!”

A great lover of surprises, Tenzing sped down the stairs leading from the door of the house ahead of me and disappeared around the corner. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I got my surprise: a snowball right in the chest. This was indeed unanticipated, particularly on a brilliantly sunny, 70 degree California morning.

Zing had just returned from two days in the mountains at his grandparents and, with the assistance of my sister, had packed an ice chest full of snow to bring to the Bay Area for our snowball fight.

As with most snowball fights, there was really no loser in ours.

Ride of Passage

As rights of passage go, I consider this a big one. With this afternoon’s frosty sunshine filtering through the forest of Pacific Spirit Park, Zing went for his first mountain bike ride.

Jet Lag

Getting over jet lag is as much a matter of will as of inevitability. That determination can be a bit hard to summon when it is time to roll out of bed in the morning or sleepiness descends in the mid-afternoon. Especially, when you are four.

Not surprisingly, Tenzing is wide awake, and quite chatty, every night when most of the rest of Paris is sound asleep.

Football in Parc Du Sceaux

Malgudi Days

More than one friend has complained that I have neglected to report on Tenzing’s visit to South India at the end of March. I have been a bit busy. But better late than never.

The King of Puppy Dome

This morning, high above Toulumne Meadows, Tenzing had his first rock climbing lesson on the very granite where, 37 years ago, I had mine. For four decades, Puppy Dome is the place where the venerable Yosemite Mountaineering School has held its classes for neophytes; but today, Tenzing, BJ, Yoo-Mi and I had the rock to ourselves.

Toe Art

Eleven weeks and two surgeries later, I am not at all happy about still being in a cast, hobbling around on crutches. I had expected to spend my summer whitewater kayaking, mountain biking, backpacking, and playing soccer and tennis. It hasn’t quite worked out that way. I blew out my Achilles tendon in early June, and have been cooling my heels (so to speak) since then.

Yesterday, at a street fair, a local day spa had its aestheticians doing free “nail art” for passers-by. Since my big toe will be on display for weeks to come still, I could hardly refuse these “nail artists” such an attractive canvass. Sadly, the woman behind the paint failed to live up to the challenge, and my toe-nail was festooned with a diminutive, rather unimaginative little daisy. “Sorry,” she said timidly, “It’s the only thing I know how to paint.”

In a show of team solidarity, however, Yoo-Mi, BJ, and Zing duly queued to have their right toe-nails similarly adorned. Now you know how to pick us out if you should happen to pass us on the street.

Learning by Example

My mother and Tenzing were just leaving my sister’s house when the electrician arrived to complete some work. “We are about to head out,” said my mother, “but if you get thirsty, there are plenty of drinks in the refirgerator, there’s ice in the freezer, and just hunt through the cabinets until you find a glass.”

Then Tenzing chimed in: “I have lots of toys that you can play with. There are toys in almost every room, so you will be able to find them.”