Big Night, Big Day. Skiphilia???

1/ An Owens/Lewis Gathering

As always a big night with the gathering of the Owen & Lewis clans. A delicious venison fondue with poached pear for dessert. There's a story about that poached pear, but the tale of the venison fondue is much more interesting.

Hunting is still a popular sport in the European Alps as attested by the abundance of outdoor stores all stocking an impressive array of knives, guns, (blowdarts?) and other weaponry. A french friend of Rick and Liz is a prodigious hunter and arrived this autumn with a whole haunch of wild venison for their freezer. Aren't we lucky to be sharing in the spoils?

Venison is a perfect meat for fondue. Sliced thinly and cooked quickly it's tender and totally delicious. Accompanied by an assortment of mustards, salad and a delicious potato gratin it made for a scrumptious feast. Fondues are fun meals. They force you to eat slowly and really savour the flavours. Both Graeme and I are guilty of "woofing" down our meals like they will be our last. With a fondue this is impossible. There is time for good conversation instead. Watch out, we'll be dusting off our fondue set when we get home!

I think Rick and Liz really loved the Bartons little gifts from NZ. A beautifully carved stone koru but even more significant were a couple lacquered stones they had collected from the shores of Lake Wanaka where they met on that fateful February day.

As the evening the wore on, the snow continued to fall outside. I could see that Mike and Graeme were getting twitchy. There was a lot of surreptitious glancing out the window by the pair. It was going to be another one of those powder mornings!! It has snowed continuously since Wednesday night! It'll be deep! And the weather forecast is for sunshine...does it get any better?

3/ First in the Queue!

And despite Leanne's lack of enthusiasm for the task, we were first in the lift queue waiting for the lifts to open this morning. "What time does the telecabine open" asked Leanne? "9am!" we replied. "Well, why the hell are we here at 8:30am?" she groaned. And suddenly the fog cleared and I saw ourselves through her eyes. This skiing thing must be a mental illness...skimania, skiphilia?

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines mania as, “The excitement manifested by mental and physical hyperactivity. Manic behavior patterns include hyperactivity, increased energy, and heightened mood. Left untreated, the person’s judgment is impaired resulting in reckless and dangerous behavior. In severe cases, delusions and hallucinations occur." Hmmmm!

Food for thought! Mike, Graeme and I seemed to be sharing the same delusion that we are still young hot skiers. But the reality is somewhat different. I fell asleep in my helmut at lunch time today!!

3/ The Helmut Kip!!

But as promised the sun came out and even Leanne started to share in our skiing hallucination. While she would have preferred a good long hard ....shopping trip. She did admit to "Hitting her Groove" this afternoon!

4/ That's Leanne on the left with a "Groove Grin!"