Tag: mountains

This Place We Call Home: Christmas Time Poetry

Posted on December 12, 2014 by

This Place We Call Home

place we call home Christmas time

This place we call home is
Magical,
Sparkly
Majestic
Tranquilizing

This place welcomes them
Home
Year after year
For decades
Sometimes with arms that change
Sometimes that grasp too tightly
Unsure when to let go
There to heal

This place we call home
Scented with pine, cinnamon
Melting wax
A balm redolent of family
And the essence of hard work

This place  showers all who enter
With possibility
And hope
Cleansing the exterior
Revealing
A mantra of self-confidence
And absolute belief in the power of
The mind and body
To learn
Heal
And love

This place
This mountain
This home

Welcome
Let us embrace
Nice to see you again, it cautiously whispers
I’m home

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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Finding His Voice

Posted on March 4, 2013 by

Alpine Meadows morning by Cameron Wolfe

Alpine Meadows morning by Cameron Wolfe

In life, finding a voice is speaking and living the truth. Each of you is an original. Each of you has a distinctive voice.

When you find it, your story will be told. You will be heard.

John Grisham

My kids spend a lot of early mornings on the ski hill. They often must roll out of bed, stumble to the car in the pre-dawn night, and ride for several hours to make it to early training on time.  My thirteen-year-old son used to grumble about it, but this season, he goes willingly.

Ski racing is not an easy sport – there’s a huge amount of equipment to keep track of, travel at hours when most people are sleeping,  dealing with weather conditions that soak you to the skin or make you feel like you’ll never be warm again, and, most difficult for me, frequent days when we’re separated as a family.

Last weekend the four of us were on two different mountains, one parent with each kid.  As I was waiting for my daughter’s ski race to start, a text came through.  Pulling my phone out of my pocket, hoping for an update from my son, this image popped up.  I knew exactly what he was doing and feeling, and I smiled. A sense of calm settled over me, and I knew he was safe and happy doing what he loves.

When I see the world through his eyes, it frequently stops me in my tracks. So often teenagers struggle to communicate, but not this one – he is finding his voice and creating his own story.

I hear it loud and clear.

How does your child create his or her own story and find their voice?

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Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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On Desire, Willa Cather, and Clinging To Our Dreams

Posted on February 9, 2013 by


12 12 Tahoe and Mammoth 117

The world is little, people are little, human life is little. There is only one big thing — desire.

– Willa Cather

I’ve driven by these structures many times in many seasons.  They could be any remnants from the days of the Westward movement, seemingly randomly placed alongside a now-busy highway.  Their walls, still sturdy, form the outline of what used to be.  Gaping holes which once must have boasted much-sought after glass and framed for heavy wood doors. What were they dreaming of as they carefully hammered each nail, hoisted each plank, and lifted each shingle into place?  Why would they choose this place, this spot, to claim for their own?  Did desire pound through their hearts as they searched for the American dream, longing for just a piece of land to call their own?

What remains of their hopes are just abandoned walls, clinging to life under the havoc of the elements, of time, a forsaken dream of what once could have been.

 What do you cling to when you feel beaten down by your dreams?

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Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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You Never Know What You Might Be Missing

Posted on January 3, 2013 by

I really didn’t want to walk out the door this morning.  Not because I was snuggled in bed.  Not because it was too early.

I was nervous about driving in the snow.

A few days ago I had a wheel spinning incident.  It was nothing serious, but serious enough to make me second guess the ability of the mighty Prius to make it up the icy road in the dark.  At 6:30 am.

One good thing about having kids, though, is that they don’t let you off the hook.  We needed to get to ski training, and Cam didn’t want to be late.

How can you argue with a teenager who doesn’t want to be late to 7 am ski training?  Even when he knows it’s -4 degrees outside?

He was right.   That’s hard to say about your teen sometimes, but this time he was.

The Prius, in all its glory, delivered us up the hill on time.  And this is what awaited me:

IMG_3382

Notice how there are no other people out there?  That’s because it was FREEZING!  And dark!  And early!

Just as I turned to go in, I saw this:

IMG_3383

And this – one of those little dots at the bottom is my son, waiting for the chairlift:

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And as I stood, mesmerized, the chill didn’t bother me anymore.  I couldn’t believe the beauty:

IMG_3385

Slowly, the sun brushed the slopes with light.  We welcomed a new day together.

IMG_3387

And once again, I was very glad I walked through the  door this morning.  You never know what you might be missing.

Like this:

IMG_3389

He makes it all worthwhile.

Thanks, Cam.


Talmont on Dwellable

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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Spending Time in the Snow: Making Memories On the Way to Mammoth

Posted on December 30, 2012 by

I spend huge amounts of time in the snow.  I mean HUGE.  More than normal people; well,  people who don’t actually LIVE in the snow.

Last weekend, my trip to the snow started like this: left work at lunch,  loaded the car, started up some Taylor Swift on the iPod, and drove off in the early afternoon.

Lily Starbucks

Everything started off really well.  Driving up the hill, leaving the valley fog behind, we were making progress.  Only five hours to Mammoth-no problem before dark.

We even had time to pull off the road and load up on caffeine – it was BOGO Christmas drinks, after all!

This is what a trip to the snow should look like, right?

 As we drove uphill, things went downhill.  Fast.

Momentarily switching on the radio, we heard the news about Newtown.  Tears.  Shock.  Horror.

Then it started to rain.  Not good.  The Prius is a lot of things, but it is definitely not a snow car.

We checked the weather channel app – if we hurried, we’d make it over the pass and into Nevada.  It would be smooth sailing after that.

IMG_3232Looks pretty, right?  It was.  Lily quickly  grabbed the camera while Taylor boomed through the speakers.  So cheery.  A white Christmas?

Not so fast.  Chains ahead.

Highway 50 isn’t called the ‘loneliest highway in the US’ for nothing.  There were NO services, so I had to suck it up and bundle up.  My daughter was watching.  There was no one else who could do it.

Don’t be fooled by the smile on my face.  It was all for the camera.  Inside, I was starting to panic.  Prius in the snow is not my favorite mode of travel.

IMG_3238My spirits were elevated when the CalTrans chain inspectors, amazed that I did it all by myself, fist-bumped me and sent me over the pass.  It was only 12 miles-we could do it.  It was  only 4:00, and with a three-hour drive in front of us, I wasn’t too worried.

Forgoing our usual shortcut, we opted for the pass over into the Nevada desert.  I ditched the chains – again, all by myself, and as snow turned to rain, I thought we were clear.

Damn Weather Channel app.

What looked clear actually became snow.  Lots and lots of snow.  But it was flat, and as we passed through Bridgeport behind schedule, I felt nervous but confident we could make it.

Compared to 50, Highway 395 is desolate.  Flat and decorated with gorgeous rock formations and rivers, I usually enjoy the drive.  But at this point it was getting dark, I was tired, and there was snow hovering way too close to the six-inch clearance of the Prius.

Suddenly, we saw it: the one and only traffic alert sign, pronouncing our need for chains.  Now.

And like a beacon in the night, the Big Sky Motel appeared, equipped with a large floodlight.  It was the only light on the road besides mine, so I quickly pulled into the parking lot and prepared myself.

Like a scene from Psycho, the motel door opened and a grizzled, shaggy man sauntered out in his sweatpants, with an equally scraggly dog following behind him.

“Want a room?  Only $69,” he croaked.  I smelled something – he must have been enjoying himself in the motel lobby.

Although I desperately wanted to say yes, I declined, but when he offered to help with the chains I jumped on it.

Ten minutes later, we were off.  Until the chains broke.  In the dark.

At this point, I felt like Wonder Woman.  Faster than she could spin into her costume, I jumped out and pulled those suckers off.  I was muddy, exhausted, and determined to make it before dawn.

We did.

This is the next morning, enjoying coffee in our favorite funky coffee joint, Stellar Brew.

                   IMG_3242

And this view…what a reward.

Mammoth morning

She didn’t even mind spending the afternoon in the motel room, studying for finals.

IMG_3254

IMG_3263

And despite the struggle, the frustrations, and the hours and hours of driving – not to mention the ski race that was canceled, we ended up with a white Christmas after all.  And a whole bunch of memories, too.


Mammoth Lakes on Dwellable

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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