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Happy Easter from Vermont

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The Lambert Family
The Lambert Family

So many things are going on. The next generation is getting ready to head to college, and our nephew is relocating (much to our delight) to our end of the continent for work. It’s such a good thing to be able to get everyone together for a not-so-quick family picture. The only person we missed was Tom’s sister, who got hit with migranes late last night and couldn’t make it down for the family photo.

The birthday/Easter celebration went incredibly well, and I met so many of Deny and Maria’s good friends – many people that I’ve been hearing stories of for a long time. Maria’s memory may not be as good as it once was, but it was clear that her friends are so important to her, and she wandered the room, with Deny’s help, saying hello to everyone. The Easter Buffet at the Trapp Family Lodge was exquisite, and there was plenty of options for vegetarians, and even the Celiac’s among us.

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Bay Area Hair Cut

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My new haircut
My new haircut
This weekend, Sarah Land at Land of Locks helped me donate my hair to Locks of Love. I found out about Locks of Love when a couple of friends mentioned that they were donating their hair to an organization that provides hair prosthetics to children who are suffering from long-term medical hair loss. Since then, have been surprised at how many other people I know have made the same decision at some point.

Locks of Love requires that the hair is at least 10 inches long – so the cut is usually a dramatic one, and since I’ve never done it before I was really looking for someone who knew what they were doing. Fortunately, Sarah was recommended to me by a mutual friend who has excellent taste, so I felt confident that I was going to get a great hair cut, and that the 3.5 hour drive into the Bay Area was worth it for her expertise. Besides, it is always fun to have a chance to visit friends, check out my old stomping grounds, and do ‘city things’.

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This weekend (not) in Yosemite

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I am so excited to be packing tonight for a trip to the Bay Area this weekend. I’ve made an appointment to get my hair cut for donation to Locks of Love, and I can’t wait until I’m free of the burden of these long locks. I’ve tried the super short cuts before and they don’t look that great on me, so I’m not shaving my head or anything drastic like that, but cutting 10″ off is going to be dramatic anyway.

Plus, a trip to the Bay Area is a great opportunity to connect with friends, and do some of the city things that we don’t get to do around here, like eating ethnic food, going shopping, or to the movies. I’m really looking forward to a few days ‘away from it all’, but I’m also a little sad to be missing the great things going on in the Park this weekend.

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Chris Polk

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Imagine my surprise when I started going through my Google Alerts for Yosemite this morning, and came across an article about my old ski buddy, Chris. The headline reads, “Snowboard pro Polk remembered as happy, passionate and well dressed“. Huh? I guess Chris was boarding in the trees last Thursday, going fast, crashed into a … Read more

Wildflowers in Winter

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Erik, celebrating the wildflowers
Erik, celebrating the wildflowers
Today’s the first day of Daylight’s Savings, and Tom, in his typically astute fashion, points out that it should be a National Holiday. The rate of accidents increases when the times shift because people have messed up sleep schedules. It would be much safer to have an extra day on the weekend to adapt. Plus, in this case, it gives us more of a chance to celebrate the long evening hours.

We piled a bunch of friends in to the car today and wandered down canyon to take pictures of the wildflowers. It was a gorgeously warm and sunny day, and the poppies, as everyone has been claiming, are out in force already this year. When we stopped at Hites Cove, we also saw huge clusters of blooming Popcorn flowers, Blue Dicks, Gold Fields, Shooting Stars, Baby Blue Eyes… and all the flowers that we don’t know or can’t remember. It’s an amazing display. The lupines aren’t out yet, and I always look forward to the Fairy Lanterns, so I suspect we’ll be taking more trips down there to watch the spring bloom.

When we got back to Yosemite West, it was almost shocking to see the amount of snow that was still there. Being able to drive back and forth between seasons is like getting to travel through time. Turns out, Spring is only about 5 miles from Winter, as the crow flies.

For more pics…

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Happy March

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Previous year's poppies
Previous years poppies
We’re a couple of days into March already, but I thought I’d wish you a happy new month anyway. March is a good month. The days are getting noticably longer, daylights savings is coming up, and although it’s been rain/snowing outside the last few days, in my mind it is starting to feel like spring. The wildflowers have even started blooming down canyon already. (On his blog, local photographer, Michael Fry, has a great image of the poppies that are springing up where the Telegraph Fire burned last summer.)

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Handstands

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Who could watch this video of people doing all kinds of crazy, fun, impossible upside down stuff without wanting to try it? Fortunately, we have a Muscle Beach veteran (the place they shot that video) right here in Yosemite Valley… and she’s teaching a class on March 11. Tom and I are both planning to … Read more