Day 4 - Coming and Going

It turns out that the seven couples aren’t here all at the same time.  Today one couple left and another has arrived.  There’s a comfortable ebb and flow to the week.  We have settled in and are doing what we like each day.  I’m greatly enjoying getting to know new people.  We’ve been having marvelous conversations:  in the backseat on rides down the hill; at lunch or just sitting around.   The atmosphere is so friendly and relaxed, one can easily join into a conversation that seems interesting.   I’m finding everyone has so much to share, the result of long and interesting lives.  Bob has spent a good deal of time telling the group about neutrinos and everyone is fascinated, very affirming and interested.  Yesterday morning, after an in-house breakfast, three guys set out on a fairly strenuous hike.  I went with the others on a tour of the Warren Miller Lodge, then on a gentle 1 1/2 mile hike along a river.  The Lodge is grand and sumptuous.  I especially enjoyed seeing the exercise room, where, like a bunch of kids, we all tried new and different machines.  I was intrigued by one machine that was a foot high box with a cage of bars to hold on to that vibrated as fast as one programmed it to go.  It was a totally new experience, one that left my spine tingling.  After our hike, we were dripping hot and we stopped at the tennis-swim club to have fish tacos with sweet potato fries.  I had an interesting conversation with one of the group, a leadership consultant, about how it’s our fixed internal model of how we think things should be that usually trips us up when we’re dealing with other people who have different models in their heads.  After dinner we had a sing-a-long with old 60’s Protest songs and a couple of games of pool.  I never knew Bob could play pool.  He made a couple of great shots!  Then, we all adjourned to the Movie Room where there began a half hour struggle to get the Apple TV to work.  The 18x12 foot screen went up and down and we all got silly waiting.   We watched the first episode of “Yellowstone” with great scenery but a violent plot.  This morning Bob and I got up early to do yoga led by one of the group.  It was a lovely way to wake up and stretch our bodies.  We took a stroll along a nearby flower laden path through the forest and across three ski runs.  I enjoyed the slow pace so I could photograph wildflowers to my heart’s content.  The excitement this afternoon was going out with Bob in the Polaris 1000 off road vehicle on the dirt roads around here.  It is like an enclosed 4 person motorcycle, loud, bumpy and exposed.   I enjoyed the grand views, but not the jerky bumpy ride.  I was on cooking duty at night and another lady and I cooked a salmon, brown rice and salad dinner.  Eleven of us sitting at the big table was a lively fun time.