12/27/08 -Colin Blog

Notchview has been a big part of my life since 1995 and even before that
when I lived in Lenox and came up here to ski often. But now I live in
Windsor and we were right in the heart of the ice storm (which is still
a factor on the ski trails but the amazing volunteer help and Notchview
staff have been heroic in getting the branches and limbs off of the ski
trails) and we had no power for light or water and Notchview was very
generous in letting my wife and I come up and get water and sit in the
lights of the Visitor Center awhile. There was a guy here "from New York
State" who was planning to erect "the second largest teepee in the
world," a very nice fellow who welcomed us in and spoke about his peace
project with the teepee. I have always liked to come up the Visitor
Center in summer and autumn and sometimes just sit and sometimes write.
It is a very quiet place and nice and warm with the masonry heater right
now. Even though the great snow we got last week has been compromised by
rain and ice, the ski season has a base, the trail base is primed and I
predict we will have some of the best skiing weeks ever. I don't have to
go far to get here. We had a fabulous star watching year with Aruna Hill
and Dan Carnevale and plan to pick it up in the spring with the big
telescopes. Meanwhile, I am going to lead rounds of a Renga style haiku
writing at the Moonlight Ski on January 9, 2009 from 7-9 PM. It's always
terrific fun and it will probably turn you into a haiku poet for life. I
look forward to seeing you all there. It might be fun to publish some of
the Moonlight Ski poems on this blog later on. Happy New Year and Happy
Winter Season!




Colin Harrington, M.Ed.
Special Education
Amherst Regional High School
Amherst, MA 01002

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