Winter Olympics, I love you so...
I'm not sure how much more I could love the Winter Olympics. I enjoy the Summer Olympics as well, but as a former winter sports fanatic who grew up in snowy Northern Minnesota, my heart will always belong to the colder of the two Games.
I will admit that watching the Winter Olympics is always slightly bittersweet for me. You wouldn't know it to look at me now, but I was an expert skier in my teens and early twenties before life intervened and I stopped skiing every weekend. It was rare indeed that I found a slope I couldn't ski, even when my family took our twice-annual trips to the mountains (we'd generally alternate between Jackson, Wyoming, and Red Lodge/Bozeman, Montana - lucky me, right?). It was one of the few things in life I was really good at, and it's a huge regret of mine that I let it go. We live relatively close to good skiing now, but I'm so out of shape I'm a little afraid to try it again (and the rest of the family really isn't that interested).
It does make watching the alpine events (like the moguls) a lot more interesting because I know exactly what it takes to ski like that, and so I know exactly how incredible those performances really are! It's sheer insanity. I doubt I ever would've been competitive at that level (there was absolutely no opportunity to get any kind of elite-level training or even compete on a team where I lived), but I was good enough that I've always been sad that I never got the chance to really give it a try.
The kids are starting to show quite a bit of interest in watching the Games with us, which is really fun. They both want to be ski jumpers, which is going to be slightly difficult because the nearest jumping facility is in central Washington. Too bad we're not still in Minnesota where ski jumps are ridiculously prevalent (ironic, isn't it - you'd think ski jumping would be more common in the mountains). Must be the influence of all those Scandinavians who settled in the upper Midwest a few generations ago. We can always send them to live with Bill's family in Saranac Lake, NY, so they can train in Lake Placid! Or else I need to get them interested in Curling (I'm going to try to join a league next winter, so you never know...).
I'm ready to settle in for a long day of TV-watching and knitting - we're battling yet another cold bug here at Chez Gardiner, which I started to really feel last night. I've got two baby showers coming up this month, not to mention countless submission deadlines (and of course the next book to work on), so I've got plenty to do. I love having the excuse of the Olympics so I don't have to feel like such a bum for watching trash TV all day, even with the excuse of being sick.
Upcoming stops on the blog tour - check out my lovely tech co-editor Amy's interview with me on Tuesday, and I stop by The Designer's Studio on Thursday (in the meantime, stop by The Designer's Studio hostess's blog to enter to win your signed copy of Toe-Up!). We've added a few more dates, so if you still haven't nabbed your copy there will be more chances to win!
I will admit that watching the Winter Olympics is always slightly bittersweet for me. You wouldn't know it to look at me now, but I was an expert skier in my teens and early twenties before life intervened and I stopped skiing every weekend. It was rare indeed that I found a slope I couldn't ski, even when my family took our twice-annual trips to the mountains (we'd generally alternate between Jackson, Wyoming, and Red Lodge/Bozeman, Montana - lucky me, right?). It was one of the few things in life I was really good at, and it's a huge regret of mine that I let it go. We live relatively close to good skiing now, but I'm so out of shape I'm a little afraid to try it again (and the rest of the family really isn't that interested).
It does make watching the alpine events (like the moguls) a lot more interesting because I know exactly what it takes to ski like that, and so I know exactly how incredible those performances really are! It's sheer insanity. I doubt I ever would've been competitive at that level (there was absolutely no opportunity to get any kind of elite-level training or even compete on a team where I lived), but I was good enough that I've always been sad that I never got the chance to really give it a try.
The kids are starting to show quite a bit of interest in watching the Games with us, which is really fun. They both want to be ski jumpers, which is going to be slightly difficult because the nearest jumping facility is in central Washington. Too bad we're not still in Minnesota where ski jumps are ridiculously prevalent (ironic, isn't it - you'd think ski jumping would be more common in the mountains). Must be the influence of all those Scandinavians who settled in the upper Midwest a few generations ago. We can always send them to live with Bill's family in Saranac Lake, NY, so they can train in Lake Placid! Or else I need to get them interested in Curling (I'm going to try to join a league next winter, so you never know...).
I'm ready to settle in for a long day of TV-watching and knitting - we're battling yet another cold bug here at Chez Gardiner, which I started to really feel last night. I've got two baby showers coming up this month, not to mention countless submission deadlines (and of course the next book to work on), so I've got plenty to do. I love having the excuse of the Olympics so I don't have to feel like such a bum for watching trash TV all day, even with the excuse of being sick.
Upcoming stops on the blog tour - check out my lovely tech co-editor Amy's interview with me on Tuesday, and I stop by The Designer's Studio on Thursday (in the meantime, stop by The Designer's Studio hostess's blog to enter to win your signed copy of Toe-Up!). We've added a few more dates, so if you still haven't nabbed your copy there will be more chances to win!
posted by knittinmom at 8:06 AM
1 Comments:
I've really enjoyed watching the Olympics this year. I've always been more of a summer games girl because of the gymnastics (I was a gymnast years ago) and, like you, am a little bummed I let it go (I can still do a round-off though!). I've really gotten into the winter games though. I loved the snowboarding events. I've always been a better skier but it makes me want to get out and try again! So, I guess I'm just a huge fan of the Olympics in general :)
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