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Show ft 3; " ISR. by Teri Gomes Let the sunshine into your winter It's amazing what a little sunshine can do for the soul, to say nothing of the skin. Oh, I know there have been dozens to very expensive, scientific studies done in the past few years on the mood-elevating effects of sunshine, but really, any person who has lived more than two seasons in the mountains could have drafted those reports. ' In my book, last week was near perfect for a winder in the mountains. One day it would snow, the next day the sun would shine, then it would snow again and be followed by the sun. I, for one, think the Chamber and ski areas should forget trying to compete with Colorado resorts in a major advertising blitz next season. Save those same dollars and put them into making this weather of one day snow, one day sun, a permanent condition. You'd have every room booked and every lift ticket sold. And more important, you'd see a lot of smiling faces. , True, this is a little naive perhaps. I know one of the reasons this time of year can cause me to finally enjoy the winter is that it no longer seems so dark and endless. Mornings start earlier with the light of day the days last longer, with the sun sticking around to somewhere closer to six o'clock. I even found myself throwing a couple of windows open Saturday to let some fresh air in the house. Last week, after a crazy, busy, exhausting work schedule, a couple of us found ourselves on the deck at Deer Valley for lunch. It seemed like such a civilized thing to do. The sun was bright, the salad crisp, the wine cold and the company delightful. And the sun, ah, the sun, was beating down warm and steady. The rest of the workday seemed to proceed somewhat painlessly. (That is not to say we were feeling no pain. Oh, never mind. .. ) And as if all those little reminders of spring around the comer were just a bit too subtle, in the mail come The Catalogs. Now it's true that I receive billions of catalogs at holiday time too, but in all honesty I hardly get through half of them, what with all the holiday goings on. But this time of year, when the catalogs start showing up in the box, it's perfect. I pile a couple up on the bedside table, wait until everybody is fast asleep and then I go shopping, all alone. The roots of this catalog catharsis are buried deep in my youth in the form of Sears Wish Book. It was given to me to help mark the days before Christmas and I was allowed to mark in bright crayon, right in the book, which items I wanted. These days I've graduated to a near Bic flow pen and I realize that the chances of Santa's elves filling most of the requests are slim. But never mind. I can mark the Bloomingdale's, the Bean's, The Bauer's, and the Burpee's catalogs for hours on end and still be content. I mentally spend thousands upon thousands of dollars redecorating my house, planning the perfect garden, re-doing my wardrobe and dreaming of long vacations on sandy beaches. In the morning when the sun (yes, sun) comes up and out and catches the icicles on the eaves of the house next door I actually find myself involuntarily smiling. And it strikes a vein with me this is the season Packy Longfellow told me about last year. If you presume, just for the sake of argument, that The Season begins in November and ends in May, then we have just passed Hump Month, February. Just as Wednesday serves that purpose for the week, February serves it for the ski season. From here on out expect more sun-filled days that somehow are stretched out longer for you to bask in. And just the way things have worked this particular (season, the second half even promises to be the most exciting. We still have" the Celebrity Classic to come along with addition this year of two World Cup races, the Black Summit group and the International Special Olympics Games. All of that, and a little sunshine in the mountains in winter. Who could ask for anything more? |