Creative day.. lots of small inspirations.. managed to fix several software problems while sitting in meetings. It’s a strange time at work.. many folks are already out on vacation.. many changes occurring and just ahead.. the holidays coming.. Fells like a strange calm..

I did spend a few minutes staring out of the window in my office while on a conference call.. I realized agfter a few minutes that soemone was staring back at me !

Got home on the late side in time for Meditation class.. but no one showed up.. so we decided to skip class and cook instead. Kevin was over for dinner which always adds an offbeat flavor to the meal.. He’s so funny and cool. He taught us something none of new.: that you can melt candy canes and shape them over a candle.  No joke.. just take a regular candy cane.. preferably a flavor that no one likes .. unwrap it.. and hold it over a candle flame.. keep turning it as you do this to prevent burning. in  a moment it will get soft enough to bend, pull  or even weld…

Gabe even figure out how to make a candy cane valentine..

now.. no candy cane is safe in our house… I’m going to go melt some more !

Nite folks.. Nite Sam
-me

If you didn’t know about the candle lighting before now, go ahead an light a candle for
Sam..it doesn’t mater what time or day it is. If you can send me a
picture of it.

Good night all.. night sam.. we’re thinking of you..
-me

Really nice day.. Woke up early-ish (8:30) so that we could get Gabe to Sugarbush. there was a rail jam their today that he wanted to enter.. and he wanted to learn the course. As we were gettign ready to go, Deb and the kids called from Peru to say hi. They’re having a great time. They’re all working in an orphanage full of street kids who have been rounded up and placed there. They say the kids really need clothes . We’re goign to help them pull together a few boxes of kid and teen clothes.. (sweatpants, tee shirts, shorts, socks) and ship them down there. I’ll send out a post and bulliten on it. If you have some old clothes around.. please try and find them…

Anyway,  We got out of the house around 9:30.. and drove to Waitsfield. We dropped Gabe off..It was a mad house there.. tthis weekend is their 50th anniversary and the place was pretty packed. As soon as Gabe was settled, Diane and I escaped to Sugarbush East (also called Mt. Ellen) which hasn’t opened yet for the season. After askign around, Diane found a great Snowshoeing loop for us.  It was a beutiful.. and cold day to be outside.. I don’t think it got above 10 while we were out.. and we were outside from about 10 until about 4… The trail was marked with the Sugarbush log.. which reminded us of the bear scratches that we saw on lots of the trees.. 

. Judging by the thin crust on the snow. and the ice on the trees . they  must have gotten some freezing rain the other night. It was beutiful to see the sunlight glittering through the ice. 

It was a good ruggged trail which got our hearts and lungs pumping.. We found this cool upturned tree .. the roots looks like some sort of scuplpture.. so we put a Samstone in it..

We got back to sugarbush at 1:30.. the time the rail jam was to have started.. but it turns out they’d started early.

We were still able to catch a few of Gabe’s runs.. Here he is in the finals on the flat-down…

It was a good day for Gabe.. He place 3rd in the 15’s and under in a big field… and got some nice swag to show for it. We were really proud of him !. Double so because  he was putting himself out there on an unfamiliar mountain.

I guess he hadn’t gotten in enough boarding for the day.. He asked us to drop him off at Bolton on the way home.. !

Looks like it will be a quiet night… I’ll let you all know if anything interesting comes up. Just a reminder. Tomorrow is the Compassionate Friends’ Worldwide Candle Lighting.  . Please light a candle for Sam and other kids who have passed on tomorrow night at 7PM . If you think of it, take a picture of your candle burnign and send it to me and I’ll pos them here..

That’s it for tonight. Nite all.. Nite Sam !
-me

Snow day !. Gabe was really hoping for a snow day today.. so we all wore our jammies backwards.. and at 5L30 this morning, the Randolph school system called to say that they were closed for the day thus my 10AM science show was canceled. Gabe’s school sent email around 7 saying they were closed too. We all had the day off !..  Bonus !

I took advantage of the newly empty morning to reschedule a working breakfast with my buddy Jason. It was fun and productive.

My mornign was still less clutttered than normal. So I headed over to UVM in the hopes of seeing some of the CS research day. I co-chair the departments Boar of Advisors.. and was eager to see what the students had been working on this semsester. On my way in to the building I ran into one of the Raskin girls from the Burlington Chabad house.I don’t know which kid it was… but she was wondering why I hadn’t done a show for them in the past 2 years. She and her family  hadnt heard about Sam’s passing.  She was giving out Shabbot in a bag kits,,, kinda wierd and kinda cute.

I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon watching the UVM students strut their stuff.  I was really impressed with what I saw.

Things ended about 4… on my way back over to Voety I ran into Marie on campus.. She actually does go to UVM.

On the way home, I dropped by the college Holiday party. It was nice seeign all the faculty in one place.

I got home aroudn 7 just in time to go u the moutiain to pick up Gabe.. We got home and broke out the Shabbat-to-Go

candles ……   tcandles…..

This Sunday is the annual worldwide candle lighting which Compassionate Friends sponsors every year in memory of children who have died. Please join us in remembering Sam and other much loved children who are not with us this season by lighting a candle at 7PM this Sunday.

Help us shine some light in this very dark season…

Nite all. nite Sam !
-me