Picture this. You are standing in the middle of a towering forest in the middle of the night in the middle of winter, and the snow is violet. This is not a tincture of the moon – the sky is banked solid with oily clouds – but a riotous violet that even casts the grappling trees in deep purple. Everything is arrayed in that eerie violet of the headlamp beam you wear as you ski the deep woods. Even the white steam from your body and your breath turn lilac as they pass through the beam. It is so silent and so still that you feel you are in a bizarre painting, and yet you sense the violence of predators watching unseen. Imagine the movie Avatar and replace the blue of Pandora with violet. This is me in the magic where I live at 2 a.m., skiing after a late night drive. And, yeah, you have to be there, but I’ve always regretted not sharing it with someone, so thanks for reading this.
It was noted several times in the recent winter Olympics that cc skiers (Nordic) are the fittest athletes on the planet, having the most sustained heart rates, the densest capillary structure and the most total body development. My heart rate is 522, I have 7 capillaries south of my neck, and dogs try to bury me, but it wasn't skinny skiing all day that was killing me; it was catching the Olympic reruns till 4 a.m. 16 nights in a row. Not my idea of the big O before dreamland.
The advance scouts of spring are lurking in the mud beneath soft snow now, and sometimes I get to name new oceans at the bottoms of hills or ski in the rain. As much as "Trail Closed" signs are an invitation to me, I'm looking forward to whatever spring brings. March is a big month. You may recall that the Ides+2 is always a fateful day for me, and every March 27th I have an appointment with magic in a special sanctuary at Elm Creek. Additionally I’m prepping for several trips, including one to Giants Ridge here in MN, another to the Dominican Republic to build houses, and a third for 12 days of ocean kayaking from atoll to atoll in Tonga.
One place I wish I was going is Norway. The three spectacular photos below were taken near Oslo and sent by Jan F. Lockert, whose blog debuted last month with a review of my work. It's always rewarding when someone with Jan’s insight does an exhaustive in-depth critique, and now his review has been expanded. I don't believe anyone has ever included my columns from Storytellersunplugged before, though those essays come closest to what you get from this blathering author if you happen to be stuck in an audience where I'm speaking. Here is Jan's updated piece from Norway: http://janlockert.blogspot.com/2010/01/american-writer-deserves-international_24.html
One of the remaining two pix below is from sinister Doc Foto’s Olympic gallery and shows the tin foil medal performance in figure skating. The remaining photo is of a still-life Carousel of Ice -- which seems appropriate for me in this frozen moment of time here in Minnesota.
March’s column over on Storytellersunplugged kicks off with another Doc Foto spoof. From there I shamelessly try to borrow Olympic inspiration for the writer's craft. Nonconformity and chasing perfection are bedmates in the mundane world. Check it out here: http://storytellersunplugged.com/blog/2010/03/15/thomas-sullivan-kidnapped-by-magic-writing-liquid-gold-and-how-i-escaped-the-olympics/#respond
Also thanks to all of you who found faces in the greenish snow swirl photo in February's newsletter, including a wolf's head -- thank you, New Delhi. And from Denver, Colorado, Dorie picks up on the Avatar theme with this limerick, which makes me smile:
There once was a
skier I knew,
Who became an Avatar Blue.
He skied all aloone,
by the
light of the moon
As away to Elm Creek he flew.
If you want to spy on my crazy musings and largely illegal activities in small bites, may I invite you to follow on Twitter? It’s just some fun you can peep at when you want without having to interact. Samples of recent Tweets: Skis ran slow in the soft snow today. Like the woman in the bikini, I should have waxed. And... Even if you can’t afford a trip around the world, you get a free trip around the sun every year. And... Valentine’s Day: I shall visit a place where a woman once married me in her heart, mind & soul, and loved me with her body. Here’s the link: http://twitter.com/thomassullivan . If you’re reading this on a mirror site, it may not have photos. I’ll be happy to put you on the mailing list if you email me at: mn333mn@earthlink.net . Past columns and newsletters w/photos are archived at the author’s website below under News & Articles (http://www.thomassullivanauthor.com/News.htm ). The newest ones are usually up within a day of being sent out.
Thomas “Sully” Sullivan
http://www.thomassullivanauthor.com/
http://twitter.com/thomassullivan
