I got a hold of someone in charge of Lodge C. Very friendly, and this lodge is much smaller – half the size of B – don’t know what it pays (if at all) but it’s my pick of the bunch so far anyway.
One potential problem: the person I contacted had no idea the current managers aren’t coming back next year. So the position might not even be available, we only heard through a third party. I hope they do leave.
Time :: 1:15pm
Temperature :: 5 deg C
Conditions :: Foggy and raining lightly.
Today’s our last full day here. We’ve spent the morning packing a few things and cleaning up. We’ll leave tomorrow about lunch time and we’re visiting Elicia’s Great Uncle in Mitta Mitta for a night before heading home on Friday. Mitta Mitta is only a couple of hours’ drive, not really on the way home but in a tangential direction, we’ve been meaning to visit all season and now that it’s over we thought we’d better pop in.
Is this the end of our Grand Adventures?
Nope, but it’s a bit sad anyway.
Time :: 8:00am
Temperature :: 2 deg C
Conditions :: It really is the tail end of the season now. Despite good weather there are not many people around, and there is many a bare patch opening on the slopes.
I forgot to mention about our trip to Lodge B. It went well, the place is fairly old but in good enough condition. It caters mainly to families and the last two managing couples have been ex-schoolteachers, and I got the impression the pres kept telling us that because he thought we were a bit young. Otherwise, it seemed positive. The next step is sending them a written statement of intent, which we’ll do later this week. The manager’s quarters are small, but big enough to throw an extra mattress on the floor for visitors, and we have an ensuite. Definitely a different sort of living though, sharing the kitchen and lounge with 30+ strangers. I suppose we’d get used to it, should make interesting blogging in any case!
I’m enjoying Colson. It’s intellectually stimulating and very challenging, an opinion piece that is supported by lots of facts and evidence.
But here’s the thing: Colson keeps bagging postmodernists and deconstructionists as the worst things to have happened to the world. His book essentially wants to return to a Christian Modernist point-of-view, where we are sure of the facts of the empirical world (and they all lead to an understanding of God). Sure, he’s got facts and evidence, but he’s aware that they don’t mean a heck of a lot to Postmodernists and he doesn’t know how to accept that.
Quite often I don’t know what to believe, I feel like I’m afloat in a rocking boat in unfriendly seas, aware that I must even question the nature and existence of the boat and the sea. Typically postmodern. But rather than make me into some victim who cannot find God, this makes me more aware of his existence.
My own view is quite obviously formed by my own initial revelation of God. I grew up a Christian, but I met God when I was at a Christian Youth conference in Tassie. Towards the end of the conference I was in a group of people having a discussion of “issues”, including all the biggies: creation, problems of evil, religious pluralism, free will, even the deity of Jesus. There was LOTS of arguing, a very broad range of opinions (typical Uniting Church). It totally wiped from my mind everything I had ever learned about God. How can all these people, who I see practising their faith every day, have such different opinions?
I remember thinking at the time that it was like my mind was a blackboard, and my whole life people had been writing on it things I should believe, and in that discussion I had questioned them all and found no basis for believing any of them. The blackboard had been wiped clean. But what I found underneath the chalk was an unshakable, real, powerful experience of God. I prayed, and he answered. He spoke, and I listened. I could physically feel God living in my chest, the lower left-hand side.
Essentially, what I found was that the statements of belief I had always followed and opinions I had held had hindered my experience of God. With all the dogma out of the way I experienced God as a truth that I didn’t have to justify rationally, he was there in my very deepest, darkest place, mysterious and suprememly fascinating.
Since that time I have obviously had to remake decisions about what I believe on issues that everyone faces in life, but deep in my soul I feel that all those decisions are still just balanced precariously on a rocking platform, and that they could all be proved wrong at some point. God is the only unshakable thing in my being.
All that is a rather long and rambling background of what I am thinking as I read How Now Shall We Live by Charles Colson. It’s very good, well organised and although fairly opinionated in parts most of the statements are well supported. I agree with most of the basics tenets put forward so far (I’m still ony at chapter 17).
BUT despite his clever arguments, I don’t know if it means anything real. It’s still working in the realm of self-built opinions. I can use this framework to build a truth structure, but it’s still going to be in the uncertain arena of my personal opinion. As a postmodern, I cannot escape that.
Time :: 11:45am
Temperature :: 4 deg C
Conditions :: Beautifully sunny, only moderately breezy. There are bare patches appearing on many runs.
I’ve been in contact with Lodge B (favourite so far), talked to the secretary who seemed open enough although at this stage more interested in finding someone to manage over summer, and we’re meeting the president of the managing committee this afternoon, he fortuitously decided to spend this weekend in the lodge! Crossing our fingers and hoping all goes well, this could be our chance to make a good impression.
We’ve also had tips on lodges C and D that may also be be hunting for managers for next year, but we haven’t followed those leads up yet… as I have been far too busy writing poems about porridge!
- The Magic Properties of Porridge -
If you take the oat, that lowly grain
And roll it flat it wond’rous does become
The magic properties are clearly plain
When a pot you boil it in with measured sum
Of water, salt and milk and leave it simmer
Twenty minutes or more if that’s okay
Then in a bowl with milk and honey glimmer
Energy for snowboarding all day!
We often eat porridge here at the snow, it’s warming and it provides plenty of slow-release energy for a long day’s boarding. When people are up we make a big pot and share it. Over the season, it has suprised me how many people have never had porridge before. If you have never tried it, I suggest that you do. Here are some fascinating facts I’ve dug up about porridge.
- Porridge has the highest protein content of all cereals;
- It is gentle on the stomach and aids digestion;
- The soluble fibre in Porridge helps lower cholesterol;
- The ancient Celts made very thick porridge, set it in trays and cut it up to make the first “muesli bars”;
- Porridge was carried by explorers Richard Byrd and Roald Amundsen to the North and South Poles respectively, and was taken into space by US astronauts;
- In India porridge is often given a curry flavour, sprinkled with dates and eaten as a dessert;
- Welsh tradition gives thick porridge the same powers as garlic when repelling vampires;
- Wallace and Grommit eat porridge;
- In the US, Porridge trucks have to bear the warning label “Caution: low-profit health food”;
- Scots never ever add sugar to their Porridge;
- “Devil’s Porridge” was an explosive paste used as ammunition by British troops during World War 1;
- Rolled oats can be mixed with honey to make a face mask that will help oily skin. After the treatment the mixture can be cooked and eaten as a tasty Porridge.
Time :: 12:00am
Temperature :: 2 deg C
Conditions :: Less wind today, mostly sunny with a few clouds in the sky: Very Pleasant.
We’ve had one of Elicia’s friends from home staying with us for a few days, she’s here until this weekend and she’s out having her first snowboarding lesson this morning. She seemed pretty nervous about it before she left, but at least she’s giving it a go. I’ll probably go out with her this afternoon, but right now it’s a good chance to get some work done.
Books: I’ve just finished Annie Proulx’s Close Range, a collection of short stories about country life in Wyoming. It’s very good, very atmospheric, with great characters and an extraordinary evocation of the US farms and small country towns. I love the way Proulx writes places so well, Shipping News is still one of my favourites for the way it made me feel like maybe I too, like the main character, had family ties to the Newfoundland area. Close Range is good, but not of the same caliber – I’ve found all of Proulx’s non-Shipping News books, specially the short stories, harder to get involved in.
And now in a change of pace I’ve started How Now Shall We Live by Charles Colson. I’ve only read the first eight chapters, but it’s already very interesting and challenging. Colson’s premise is that a Christian worldview can explain the world and its problems in a way no other ideology can, and that if we actively live out the worldview it will be the best witness to the world around us. A compelling argument, but I’ve got a feeling that as I keep reading I’m going to find Colson’s definition of “the Christian worldview” the challenging part.
Time :: 8:15am
Temperature :: 4 deg C
Conditions :: Fine and sunny, a little windy.
Less than two weeks now until we move home and this blog is no longer snow-related. I’m going to keep writing it, but it will have to have a temporary (eight-month) name change until next season. And obviously, some content change as well. Here’s some ideas I’ve come up with:
James and Elicia’s adventures unrelated to snow.
James and Elicia’s entirely normal life.
Life outside the snowdome.
Aaarg! I’m melting!!*
James and Elicia’s adventures in Australia’s volvo-driving retiree beachside capital.**
Dances with Words.***
Other suggestions welcome.
* Bit of a Wizard of Oz reference there.
** That is, Pt Lonsdale.
*** I’ve always wanted to call a blog that, maybe if there was more poetry and less rambling…
Goodness, what a big weekend! To start with the drive was beautiful, the sun was out and everything is lush green – unlike when we drove up here four months ago when brown was predominant. We saw lots of friends and family which was great fun, we caught up with everyone we wanted to and also fitted in a sunny afternoon stroll along the beach, sand between the toes, coffee at our beachside cafe – magic. It was nice to be back home for a visit because it felt more like a holiday, when we move back in a couple of weekd we’ll both be getting ready for a summer’s work and settling in to our share house again and that sort of thing.
One thing that struck me about the weekend was returning to church. It has been four months or more since we went, and it was strange. Sitting in a bright room with lots of families, all facing the front and reading the song lyrics on a big screen – it suddenly seemed very alien. I think that must be what it’s like for normal people when (if) they come to church for the first time. It definitely provided me with some insights that I haven’t had before.
1/ What is the point to church? I mean, I know it’s praising god and learning and that odd thing “fellowship” and all that, but if you were new how would you know that? How would you know what to do?
2/ It’s a bit like a concert, only without the usual focus on the lead singer of the band. The band is set back a bit at our church so they’re not the focus. Instead, the projector screen seems to be the focus, which struck me as odd.
3/ Some parts seem like a business seminar. That’s the only place most people would sit in rows and face the front to listen to a guy talk for 1/2 hour.
4/ There’s lots of kids and older people. Up here at Hotham most people are 20-35.
5/ The whole atmosphere is very different to any other thing we do, which makes it seem not normal.
While the preacher was talking about worship and stepping out, two ducks walked past the window, shaking drops of water off their wings in the sunshine. They waddled happily past and I thought, Lord, make me like the ducks, able to accept your gifts with pure pleasure and praise you with simple gratitude.
Time :: 10:45am
Temperature :: 0 deg C
Conditions :: Fairly fine, we won’t need chains to get down the mountain, that’s a bonus.
I’ve got to go down and dig the car out while Leasha’s at work, I’m picking her up from there at 1:00pm and we’re shooting straight home. I’ve spent this morning packing a few last things, doing the dishes, picking cds for the trip and ringing lodges.
Why ringing lodges? Well, Elicia and I thought we might try lodge managing next season, if we can get a posi anywhere. That way we get our accommodation free (well, in exchange for booking people in and telling them they’ve got to clean up etc) and we can rent this unit out and it can pay off its own expenses. That’s the plan anyway, and a mighty fine plan it is – but it all hinges on acually getting a lodge managing position. So far we have heard of two that will be available:
Lodge A :: The current managers have a reputation for big parties (but they’re not coming back next year). Elicia rang the managing committee rep for this one and he seemed pretty cool with us but didn’t promise anything. The job has low pay but big managers quarters. He also said they cater to “the low end of the market” and often have “night pigs”… not entirely sure what that means but I bet it would be challenging.
Lodge B :: I met the current manager for this one at a party the other night, a man in his mid-fifties so we wouldn’t have such a reputation to live up to. He is also leaving but I haven’t been able to contact him for further information. He didn’t like the quarters and this one involves some cleaning, but it pays more than Lodge A so that’s okay. It also sounds like it caters for the slightly more mature – which is okay with me.
Decisions, decisions.