skiing and doing

 And we're back into our winter routine!  After some very warm days, we got a nice little storm Thursday through Friday which brought over a foot of snow in places in the Wasatch mountains.  Alta now has had 146" of snowfall with a 66" base, although this coming week is going to be warm and dry, which will eat away at that.  The storm was also nice in that the Salt Lake valley got less than an inch, making driving much less anxious for those of us who get anxious about such things.

It did get cold on Saturday, though, so H went up to Alta without me, wearing his warmest parka: it was single digits when he got there and even with bluebird skies, only warmed up ("warmed up") to about 20F.  Alta did have all the lifts open, so after the initial surge, with people stoked about the new snow, the skiers were spread out across the mountain, keeping lift lines reasonable.  H said that the snow was quite good and he skied hard until just after 2 p.m.

It was chilly down in the valley too - I don't think it got about 30F all day.  Milton and I waited until 9 for our four mile walk - the sunshine still felt good, even in the 20s - and then I got busy.  I made spiced candied almonds, peanut butter and pumpkin dog biscuits, a kale/lentil/vegan sausage soup to have Sunday after skiing, and a tasty curry with chickpea and zucchini koftas for Saturday dinner.  I also did a big load of laundry and finished up Christmas presents.  Now that I've written it all out, it doesn't look like that much, but I was actually on my feet all day, only sitting down for fifteen minutes for breakfast and for lunch.  Staying home can be a lot of work - it's not all sitting around eating bonbons!