Ink Lake

Operation Santa Claus

 

For a few years now, me and a friend have been participating in Operation Santa Claus at the Farley Post Office. Letters that kids have written to Santa addressed to the North Pole are gathered there.  and you can go through the letters, and work to fulfill the requests.

It’s run by USPS volunteers, and I’m always gratified to see people going through stacks of letters, and then dropping off parcels. To protect the privacy of the kids, their full names are redacted. The packages get mailed to a code number, with a special “North Pole” zip code (yup, you have to pay for postage).

The video is from last year – a participant with a flair for artwork. (I’m told that wrapping the presents is a waste, as since the packages are coming from strangers, the parents always open them).

Good Cause & Great Music

On Tuesday at the Rock Shop in Park Slope, there was a benefit gig on behalf of musician/engineer Mark Spencer. Spencer, who currently plays with Son Volt, has his home and studio in Gowanus, and it was devastated by Sandy.

A seriously all-star lineup of friends came to lend support. Laura Cantrell, Amy Allison, Jimmy Ryan and the Del Lords, among them.

I’ve written about the first two previously, but the Del Lords – man.. I used to blast Frontier Days on my dad’s old mono record player — before I even had a proper stereo.

I once heard a live show of theirs on the radio – and twenty years later, I still remember their cover of “Tallahassee Lassie”. On Tuesday night, they kicked ass. I forgot how fucking good they are, how much I love that sound. If Crazy Horse came from the LES (and had laid off the heroin), they’d sound like this.

Here is sweetheart of the Brooklyn rodeo, Laura Cantrell, singing “The Whiskey Made you Sweeter”, with the song’s composer, Amy Allison.

My Reach And My Grasp

I’ve been trying to get better at skiing for about a decade now — really working at it. Every year, more of the mountain is open to me, and I regularly ski places, where I can remember years before, I remember sitting and quietly weeping.

This year, I was able to ski the “Praying Cat” off of the Supreme chair at Alta. Something I thought that I was at least a year away from being able to do, especially in this very low-snow year.

But after looking at it from the lift about 1000x, I thought I found a way through, and I did it (with people shouting encouragement from the chair – slightly disconcerting). 

 

 

(Here is what it looks like in a more normal year.)

But while I’m happy with what I did this year, there is still so far to go. I’m from sea-level New York, and started late. I feel like a weekend-fisherman talking to a killer whale about fishing technique. Still it’s inspiring. I see people in places it would never occur to me to stand, let alone ski, and say to myself, “someday”. Praying Cat was like that.

People who haven’t skied out in Utah have no idea how seriously they take it, and how good some of them are. Here’s an idea. Maybe next year. :)