Snow

Yesterday was a good day. The sun shone, the wind whispered, the temperature murmured around the zero mark. So we took ourselves off to Muroran mountain to enjoy the good weather. Cian and Sanae went skiing. Last week Cian successfully passed Grade 3 of his Junior Ski test. We figured he'd take the Grade 2 test next year, but the boy wasn't having any of it. He took the test yesterday and passed it, first time of asking. Hell, not did he only pass it after a morning's worth of instruction, but he set the fastest time for the test course. Suitably emboldened he wants to try Grade 1 next week, but the ski school is finished for the season and there are no more tests are being offered.
Or so they say.
I reckon they are embarrassed by the mockery Cian has made of their grading system and want to figure out how to fail the boy without incurring the wrath of his big, hairy, foreign father. It's early days yet but Ireland could have their first downhill Olympic hopeful. Though as it is Sanae who goes skiing with Cian I may have a bit of a battle on my hands to get the boy to declare for Ireland. Mammy has taken to the slopes in a big way (and no, that is not a subtle reference to her, ahem, 'girth'). She too is taking lessons, passing exams, and hanging out with old people on the slopes.
Meanwhile Daddy was off reenacting the Revenant (though without the mound of skulls). After climbing the mountain I decided to hike down through the forest and follow the valley back to where we live. I did this because (a) it was a nice day; (b) it would beat trudging down the busy road from the ski field; and (c) I was a naive and innocent fool who didn't know what I was letting myself in for. I figured it would take be about an hour and a half.
Four hours later, most of it spent breaking trail through waist high snow, I arrived home, dehydrated and delirious. Well, okay, not quite that bad. But I was hungry, and dying for a cup of tea. And looking nothing like Leonardo DiCaprio.
Still, like I wrote above, a good day.







Today, however, was not a good day.
It started at 5:40 with a flurry of phone calls from Sanae's school informing her it was closed because of the weather and she was to stay at home until further notice. Similar phone calls for Cian. No contact whatsoever for me. The university gets their pound of teaching flesh no matter what the weather.
It was hard to credit how, in a mere 12 hours, the weather had deteriorated so quickly. We looked out our bedroom window and saw this.



So we went upstairs where the view didn't get any better. And it was fecking heavy, wet snow, that took two sweaty hours to clear. And then off to work for me while the rest of the Gaynor-Takahashi family lounged around drinking hot chocolate and wondering what movie to watch.