The weather here in Ithaca has been consistently cloudy with small bits of snow here and there for weeks. There's a 40% chance of snow nearly every day, and so we figured that it was about time for a sledding party. We prayed for a nice fluffy snowfall to refresh the crusting-over snow, and decided to plan an event regardless. In the end, it didn't snow, but because we'd hedged our bets with an event that had something to offer everyone, fun was still had by all.
The morning began with several former Byway residents in town, Emily, Sera, and Julius, who came over for breakfast and cross country skiing at Hammond Hill with Brendan. Clay also had his friend Kirsten in town, and they spent the day chillaxin'. JiJY and I (Lillian) started in on the baking. I'd become obsessed with making a chiffon cake after reading
this article in the Rake, so my plan was to bake one whether or not people showed up, since we didn't know how many guests to expect with the lack of fresh snow. JiJY made some heart-stoppingly delicious cookies that used all of the assorted chocolate and butterscotch chips we had. For me, the day was already a success because the cake turned out beautifully.
Much to my surprise, many people showed up ready to sled, and so we hit the slope (as I waited for the cake to cool before frosting it). The snow in The Plantations was packed and slick, but not too icy, so it gave us some good speed. Ranae decided to try for the tiny jump that someone had (oddly) placed at the bottom of the slope, so she took off from the very top of the hill. Video coming soon! Later she pulled a wrestling move on Kate, which apparently didn't look or sound as painful as it was, according to Kate.
As we were heading back to The Byway for baked goods and cocoa, some other folks showed up wanting to sled, so some people stayed on the hill past dark. Later they told us some guy brought a wooden boat to sled in--cold as I was, I wish I'd stuck around to see that!
After sledding and skiing, people relaxed, chatted, and had delicious soup, cookies and cake. Tarah's puppy visited as well (you can see her other puppies
here). Later we busted out the Wii and people had fun on Wii Sports and Rayman Raving Rabids. Some folks stayed up to watch
Infernal Affairs, which I hear was very good. Soon we'll get a projector--it's going to be a blast!
Overall, we had a very fun and relaxing Saturday, and the next time it really
does snow, we'll have a fun party again.
P.S. We'll put up the videos and photos of this event soon. Please check back with us again in the near future.
While rain may be lifegiving to bears in a droughty summer needing a fish run, it gives no relief to Bywayers in need of a dry place along the creek for a bonfire party. We simply moved the party inside and it was no great loss at all. Brendan might have a different opinion since the kind of work he did in shoveling the path to the creek was relegated to machines in most of the world over 100 years ago. Perhaps it was a subdued hostility toward the weather that blended with his exceeding hospitality in making him challenge the ancient Sioux saying "he who has many friends can never make too much popcorn."
