The first snow of the winter fell Oct. 17th, and it was a pretty good one - leaving several inches on the ground in town. All the fall leaves hung wet and heavy with that blanket of white. It seems like a long time ago now. Julie and I's first ski day was cross-country skiing with drummer and dear friend Fernando Serna up in the Bighorns on Nov. 24th, and since then I've lost count of how many days we've skied with him up there this winter - and he's gone even more days on his own, practically wearing his own track in the grooming on his favorite loop up in the woods.
A couple other good friends decided to give skiing a try this winter, and I think they've decided to commit to it for good after several great days exploring trails around the range. It seems with the right people you can't have a bad day of skiing, only varying degrees of awesome, and we all have such an awesome time.
We took our kids XC skiing for the first time this year as well, smartly pairing up with some neighbor friends (and most importantly their kids), and that guaranteed a good time was had by all as the kids had such a blast skiing together and charging down the short hills through the trees.
In between there's been lots of time spent outside on our back deck spread out around the fire, bundled up and masked with close friends thoroughly enjoying each other's company. And now as the weather warms a bit, and many of us get vaccinated, we've even enjoyed our first acoustic jam in the warm sun, relishing in the return of company and sounds of friends. Throughout it all the band has been getting together and practiced tunes, learning other peoples songs and working up new ones of our own, and it’s been nice being able to do it at a relaxed enough pace that the arrangements have time to come into their own. As I look at the calendar I almost lament that there's only a couple more months of winter to go before summer rolls on and life inevitably gets busier.
I have this throwaway motivational calendar sitting on my desk that I use for work, and for the month of March it says "Quality stands the test of time." And as cheesy and cornball and cookie cutter as that is - there's something about it that rings true right this moment. The quality of friendships - real friendships - the quality of experiences - real experiences - has stood the test, and is emerging better than it ever was. As people and as a band I think we know better where the good balance lies between being on the road and being on the mountain, and we definitely know that we absolutely have to get Taylor a pair of ski boots!! ha ha!
We're looking forward to summer, folks, but we're not quite ready to give up on this winter. Go ahead and bring it Mother Nature. We want more snow and we're not afraid to say it!
Be safe 'n go skiing.
- Dave
The Two Tracks