Of Hot Chocolate & Retro Ski Sweaters

Elixir from the cacao goddesses. Meggy treated me to a cup
of Old World Hot Chocolate with whipped cream at
Lake Champlain Chocolates in Waterbury today. Unsurpassed.

Great surprise! Tonight at the event, I met Johannes von Trapp,
the 10th and youngest child of the singing von Trapp
family. He was with his pretty wife, Lynne, and handsome son, Sam.
All three were very nice.

I'm quite sure that is Johannes von Trapp on the pony. Here is photo LINK.

Outside Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury,
home of fresh apple cider donuts made before your eyes.

Nancy Twitty at tonight's 14th Annual Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum
Hall of Fame Induction. Many people, especially skiers, wore retro ski sweaters.

And here is Nancy in the sweater in 1958;
this picture was pinned to her sweater tonight. Thank you to Meggy
for thinking of taking an up-close picture of this picture.
[Actually, this is brown version of the sweater.]
Nancy was a charming dinner companion at table 13.
She attended Wellesley College.

Sorry these pictures are out of order, but I am too tired to fix them.
Here is the tote I won in the silent auction tonight.
I love it. Came with red fleece hat for Punch and something for Figgy inside.
The bag is made by Neve and I hear it's sold at the gift shop in the
Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum.

My dear friend Meggy. We met on the first night of college, when we were 18.
We both grew up in NJ. But she was recruited by IBM right out of
college and some years later, moved up to work for the company in Vermont!!! We
have seen each other through boyfriend breakups, career dreams, job firings,
promotions, one divorce, three weddings, the deaths of both of our mothers
and my dad, and much more!

Meg with her husband, Greg. He writes the RetroSki column 
for the Stowe Reporter, but had an IBM career 
in the past. This is his ski sweater from the 1970s;
Meggy wears one that her mother 
knitted in the late 1960s. Amazing.

Well, here I go, I really want to write a nice long post again but I also want to lie down and read, because I'm on a weekend getaway. But I can't resist telling you about tonight's event for the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum on Main Street in Stowe; Greg is on the board. The sold-out event was at the Stoweflake Resort.

It was just great, and so perfect. Meg and Greg have both been skiing since they were young; they are an ideal match in many ways. 

Anyway, my notes:

• The sweaters were incredible--on both the men and the women. Some had silvery "frog" closures, some zipped, some had hoods. I saw sky-blue Nordic wool patterns, bold reds, patriotic red, white and blues. Everyone seemed to layer them over a shirt or tank; I overheard some people say they were itchy. Trina B. Hosmer, inducted tonight, had on a 50-year-old sweater. She took it to the cleaners and they were worried, but it came out OK and she looked fit and beautiful. She blazed trails for women cross-country skiers and still does. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for my husband. He taught me how to ski in 1966 when I came to the University of Vermont for my master's degree, and kept encouraging me over the years, she said. And that was back in the days when women were not allowed on the ski team; she rode in the back of the bus. Her husband, also wearing a retro ski sweater, beamed at her from the audience.
• We were seated with the descendants of inductee Charles "Charlie" Lord, who died in 1997. He has been called a "sculptor of mountains." A civil engineer, he designed and built ski trails throughout northern Vermont, including the Lord Trail, named in his honor, at Stowe Mountain Resort on Mount Mansfield. His son, two granddaughters and other family members were at our table.
• Edgar Holmes III, MD was there to accept his honor as an inductee. He is a highly regarded pioneer in ski medicine. 
• Tall Johannes von Trapp--with his easy smile--accepted on behalf of Craig O. Burt [1892-1965], a visionary and early proponent of skiing in Stowe. When we came in 1943, he did a great deal for my family. He was a wonderful, wonderful friend to us, said the youngest von Trapp singer. 
• Dr. Gretchen Rous Besser looked stunning in her sweater! She received the Paul Robbins Journalism Award for outstanding skiing and snowboard journalism. Among other achievements, she put in years and years on the National Ski Patrol and wrote the book The National Ski Patrol: Samaritans of the Snow. She was very pretty and again, very fit, and I heard she is 86 years old and still does the dawn patrol.
• What more can I tell you? The silent auction had lots of great items, from cuddly ski-themed pillows to new ski sweaters, Cabot Cheddar cheese, a wicked-good looking snowboard and a pair of antique wooden skis.

About to glide off to sleep now. For the record, I think I have been skiing once, when Meggy took me, Moey and Debbie in NY State. We were on the bunny hill and I kept crashing into the fence. But that doesn't mean I can't embrace cool ski style and admire these forward-thinking trailblazers! Wow! Zip, zip, swish, swish. Good night to you.