Happy Birthday to Me!

This past Sunday was my 32nd birthday, and Dave, Gregor, Katie & I went up to Lake Placid for the long weekend to celebrate and get away. The highlight, besides copious amounts of time spent knitting by the fireplace in the lodge with Katie, had to be the bobsled ride. With a professional driver and brakeman riding along, we went on 1/2 mile track used in the 1980 Olympics. It was so fast! And we even got to wear helmets. But it was butt-cold.

We also rode an open chair lift on that same freezing day to the top of a ski jump. We could see the home of John Brown, the abolitionist who led the raid on Harper's Ferry, and the subject of the historical fiction Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks (one of my favorite authors). It seemed weird to be looking at his homestead from an Olympic Ski Jump Observatory, like totally different worlds colliding. But looking down at the shack and graves from the height of the jump, I could really feel the setting of the book.

All in all, I had a great weekend with my husband and friends. And the hat I made for Katie for her Christmas gift got a great compliment from a lady in a shop selling Icelandic Sweaters, so that made my day!

I asked my mom to take a picture of her and my dad wearing their Christmas scarves, but I think this model is much more appropriate for the blog...

By the way, all is well in the world -- American Idol is back!