16 LAKESIDE
November 2020
A Thanksgiving to remember among friends One of the many things I love about Lake Lanier is year round sailing. Up north boating takes a long winter break. By mid-November the Jersey Shore has become a desolate place. The tourists have all gone home and the wind is howling down the boardwalk, as the surf pounds against the sea wall. At the marina, all the boats have been hauled out of the water and their engines winterized. The masts have been pulled out of the sailboats and properly stored and there is not much to do. The weather is cold and miserable with not a hint of snow and only the anticipation of Thanksgiving and Christmas to relieve the boredom. One of our marina patrons provided a solution. He was going to Florida for Thanksgiving week, so he offered his ski cabin in central Vermont to the crew in appreciation for taking good care of his boat during the summer. This was the perfect cure for the ennui that had set in, so we accepted. We assembled an eclectic group of sailors, houseboaters and other good friends and headed north. The cabin was centrally located between several ski areas so there would be plenty of outdoor activity besides partying.
of the fire and she was wearing a new pair of blue corduroy trousers. Vinnie As she stood before the heat, we Mendes could actually see steam coming from them. Thus, was solved the On the mystery of the blue stains in the Water snow! When she got back to our cabin, she found that not only her long underwear, but also her legs were dyed blue. (Note: never wear Not everyone was a downhill new bright colored pants in the skier so the first day we decided to snow if you fall down a lot.) go cross country skiing at MounNext day we all decided to take tain Meadows, a popular area with some lessons. While the rest of the miles of well-groomed trails and a crew opted for a basic or intermegood ski school and lodge. The diate lesson, I decided to take a lestrails ran through sugar maple for- son to improve my Telemark turns. est, where occasionally you would (Note: Nordic skiing is basically come across tracks of rabbits, cross country, similar to jogging or foxes, and deer. Every once in a skating, Telemark turns allow you while, you would come out into a to take the cross-country skis clearing with incredible vistas of downhill but require a bit of pracsnow-covered farmlands and tice to master. Alpine skiing is all mountains in the distance. As my downhill, more like a very energirlfriend and I skied along, every getic sleigh ride.) I was the only few hundred yards we would come one in the class and the instructor upon a blue stain in the snow. I fig- was a fellow named Mike Galured some Snow-Cat or Ski-Doo lagher. The name was familiar, but had an antifreeze leak and thought I wasn’t sure where I had heard it. no more about it. He was a great instructor and I At the end of the day we all learned a lot from him. I bought gathered in front of the enormous him a hot rum and cider in the bar fireplace at the ski lodge for hot afterward and asked how he had mulled cider. My brother’s girlgotten into Nordic skiing. He told friend was standing right in front me his father was in the U.S.
Army’s 10th Mountain Division in Colorado and he basically grew up on skis. He excelled in high school and was considered an Olympic hopeful. In his senior year he got into a terrible car wreck and all the doctors told him he might not walk again, much less ski! He decided “Screw you doctors, I’m not only going to walk but I will ski.” He was never good enough to be an Olympic competitor in Alpine skiing but excelled in Nordic, not only in the five, 15 and 30 kilometer races but also in the biathlon, where you ski several kilometers with a rifle on your shoulder then flop down in the snow, shoot at a number of targets, get back up and do it all over again! He was on the US Olympic team competing in three Olympics, 1964, 1968, and 1972. He was currently the head coach of the US Nordic Olympic Ski team! That’s when I realized why the name sounded familiar! Meanwhile back at the cabin, it was a weeklong party with a number of funny situations happening. One evening while cleaning up from dinner, Bill, one of our houseboat buddies, was loading the dishwasher. He had just finished filling the soap dispenser with liquid hand dishwashing detergent.
My girlfriend saw what he was doing and told him he had to use the powdered automatic dish washer detergent, so he put that in as well. She told him he had to get the liquid out of there or it would foam all over the place. He assured her that he knew what he was doing and hit the start button. We all began playing Scrabble in the dining room as the dishwasher was humming away in the kitchen. I was facing the kitchen door and pretty soon this wall of soap suds started oozing out of the dishwasher and creeping across the floor toward us. It was about a foot and a half high and looked like something out of a 1950s science fiction movie! I kept quiet waiting for a reaction from someone and pretty soon one of the girls screamed. We all suspended the game to watch Bill clean up the mess and bail out the dishwasher. This was much more fun than Scrabble. The funniest incident happened on Thanksgiving Day. Our friend Paula volunteered to roast the turkey. Now Paula is a dear sweet person whom I think took too many drugs back in the 1960s. However, we knew she was a good See Mendes, page 17
WE ARE YOUR PAINTER ON THE LAKE
Keep business local. Choose family-owned Five Star Painting of Cumming, endorsed by thousands of customers for high quality painting at an affordable price, excellent customer service and project completion on time and on budget.
SERVICES OFFERED:
$300 OFF
• Interior and Exterior Painting
• Drywall Repairs
• Exterior Wood Repair
• Cabinet Painting
• Popcorn Ceiling Removal
• Wallpaper Removall
OWNED BY THE SPECKER FAMILY
ANY PROJECT OVER $3,000 NOT VALID WITH ANY OTHER OFFER. VALID ONLY AT PARTICIPATING LOCATIONS. LIMITED TIME OFFER. EXPIRES 12/31/2020.
CALL NOW FOR A FREE ESTIMATE 678.272.3143 | FiveStarPainting.com INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATED FRANCHISE
From Our Cumming Office Grand Opening
