Finally it stopped raining. Still cold but at least it’s dry. Maybe Spring is finally going to get going. Even with it being cold it’s hard to believe that this photo was taken from our winter ski slope. With our lack of snow this year the slope has remained firmly shut. It’s not steep. It’s not particularly scary. It’s not the longest run. But it’s ours. It’s the very much smaller cousin to the famous Lauberhorn Ski Run. We have it to ourselves. Never seen any evidence to disprove this. I bet even Trump doesn’t have his own ski slope.

It’s one of the advantages of living in the sticks. Not often do you encounter crowds. In fact most days you don’t encounter any human life. That is a relief as if he could see another soul anywhere within 500 yards he would stop dead in his tracks and whisper.

“Come on Sherpa pick up the sled we are going home”

But thankfully that has not happened here. It’s happened when we have tried other snow places out. But not here. So now when it snows we stick to our slope.

Two minute walk to the ski run. An hours sledging. Then a two minute walk back to the inevitable hot chocolate and fire. This isolation is so important to our son. He feels safe. He also feels accepted.

“You can’t be different when I’m the only one here.”

When he was at his last school some of the kids went sledging at the back of the school. Initially it was just our son and a really lovely girl. For a few minutes they played in the snow really happily. Then the other kids arrived and son stopped playing. He stood at the side and watched for a while. Then he asked if he could go home.

I suspect strongly that I am not alone as a parent in having observed this type of thing. Initially I would try to encourage him to join in. But now I realise the best thing is to revert to my Sherpa role. Pick up his stuff and get him home.

But no risk of snow now. It’s Spring you know…..

During the summer months the field plays home to sheep and cows. That provides a little bit of danger to skiing season. I remember a particularly enjoyable time when I came off the sled and landed in a clearly defrosted cow pat. Not sure what would be worse – concussion from a frozen pat or the feel of cow poo over your body and on your face. Probably not Concussion….

But today the rain has passed, no snow so you can stand at the top of the ski run and admire the view.

58 thoughts on “Our slope”

  2. It’s a beautiful place and yes, I have witnessed much the same with one of my daughters when she was growing up. She was quite happy playing with one child, but the minute others showed up she withdrew. Like you I initially tried to get her to join in. It didn’t work out well for us either. Some children are just shy and prefer not to be overwhelmed by numbers (even if that number was relatively small, like three or four. I love how you honor who your son is and don’t try to force him into situations he is not comfortable with. Good on ya!

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  4. Kids are like that: they deserve to be able to choose their own path… I was in that mood myself, my both kids as well.
    Lovely place you got, in Winter and in Spring… I guess you could spread around some flower’s seed: it would grow an enjoyable colourfull canvas, thanks to the cow poo 🙂 which is formidable dung!
    You shall always look at the sunny side of the world… Have a brilliant day

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  5. Oh YES. The cow poo. I am most familiar with that. As have been all our dogs in the past. Our present dog has not yet come into contact with cow poo. But all our others enjoyed great intimacy with it. As did our car!

    I too was one to prefer to be with only one other child. I hated crowds, or even very snall groups, but maybe it was because we moved about every three months, thus different schools. Mi blame not being able to do math on that lol.

    You paint such a wonderful picture of where you live Gary. Your son has an incredible place to grow up in, and I hope that this wonderful place always helps him through his life. He has a great Dad too. Much love to the both of you xxxx

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  8. That’s a beautiful slope!

    I remember my Dad taking me to a similar looking slope about a 15 minute slog from my home in Stoke, but we had to share it. I do remember with pride though looking back down the hill after my last slide of the day and seeing mine was the longest trail of anyone. We had a 5 ft sled that could easily sit 4 but the last ride i was the only one on it.

    I think Dad pulled me most of the way back home!

    Do you think he will ever get to a point where he will be confident within himself enough to not mind being with people – even the stupid ones?

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      5. Stokies hate those players who take fake dives… we just wanted to give the opposition something that was worth the acting for!! 😉

        Sometimes you gotta break (l)eggs to make omelettes! 😉

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  10. Ah, we had our own sledding hill in Rock Springs! I’ve always missed that, and finding a safe place that won’t lead to a child knocking teeth out is tough.
    And yes, you can’t make your kid play with another. He’s got to be okay with initiating it, and…well, sometimes it takes weeks or months for him to feel safe enough to do it.
    Patience is such a tough bugger. xxxxxxxx

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      7. 🙂 Well, a good chunk are from Native American tongues (Oconomowoc means, I believe “muddy waters.”). The rest we just stole from everywhere else: Rome, New Berlin, pretty sure there’s a Paris, New London… 😉

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      1. Your sense of humour is a major factor in your coping all these years with a struggle few could have managed themselves. You couldn’t have made it this far and this well without this gift of tickles and tickling.

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