I competed at the delayed U.S. Adult Championships in Rochester, MI., in June. I’d really wanted to go to Michigan for this event. Preparing my Willow Waltz and Cha-Cha for the bronze solo pattern dance event was a good back-on-the-ice project, and coach Gary encouraged me to skate the Lola program he’d made for me.

The Suburban Ice skating club did the competition up right. Beautiful decorations, useful swag, a high-quality printed program and pretty medals, not to mention an opening ceremony featuring Alissa Czisny. It was one of the best adult competitions I’ve seen.

I always prefer to have a coach with me at events and I connected with Carmen, who made the whole event so much more fun. She’s a gentle, insightful coach and a high level ice dancer just finishing her Internationals.

Mary and Carmen

There was a question whether Adult Nationals would even happen because Michigan got walloped more than any other state by the Alpha variant this spring. Because of that, precautions for the event were strict. Proof of vaccination or a negative test was required for entry and masks were required off-ice. Also, no food was sold so people wouldn’t have their masks off while eating. That all made me feel comfortable to be there. Originally, they were not going to allow spectators, so my husband didn’t come along. My mom was able to come and watch me skate my dances, which I really appreciated! This is the first time she’s ever seen me compete.

I won the solo bronze pattern dance. It felt great to get that gold medal, likely the only one I’ll ever have from Nationals. They had merged several age groups so there was a 30-year span in the ages of the athletes, very tough for the oldest group. I was in the middle of the age distribution. One of my new skating friends in the younger age group gave me a run for the money with her skating skills that are stronger than mine. Fortunately for me there are other aspects to dance, like expressing the character of the dance, where I was able to make up for that.

My mom and me at Nationals

For the light entertainment competition I skated my program to ‘Whatever Lola Wants.’ I had some problems keeping my hair band on, really should have taken it off when it felt loose in my warmup. Other than that it was a good skate for me and I had fun, I hope folks were amused. The woman who won our group skated a dynamic, sexy program using a folding chair as a prop and doing all kinds of cool spins and tricks with it. I told her and her coach that I’d be afraid of a concussion if I tried those tricks. They laughed, but I was for real.

Videos from the event were on the US Figure Skating Fan Zone. I enjoyed getting to watch my whole event and share it with family without having to buy the video. But now I kind of regret not buying it or my medals photo. My mind just wasn’t on it.

Light entertainment competitors

One of my spectating highlights was seeing Ben Jalovik’s incredible master’s light entertainment piece with a cane. It’s worth seeing here on Facebook. I’d gotten to meet Ben at the Monument Adult Skating Camp and been taken by his high-level improv skills and engagingly outgoing personality then.

Another fun piece was by Molly McGowan, the winner of this year’s Yvonne M. Dowlen award for the competition’s oldest skater. She pushed an old-fashioned wooden school desk onto the ice, sat at it, and pretended to be a skating judge making snarky comments about each skater she was judging. Her music provided the narration, and with a nod of the head and a wave of the pen she cracked everyone up without any actual skating. Way to snag that oldest skater award. Last but not least was a skater who donned an inflatable unicorn costume (think this, but figure skating). As soon as I saw that costume I knew who would win that group and I wasn’t wrong.

I went to the competitors’ party to chat up friends and make new ones, such precious rare opportunities these days. It felt weird to walk into a banquet buffet with lots of people, but in June it briefly seemed reasonable to me to go to an event like this. We played quiz games for prizes, drank, listened to the pounding rainstorm outside and wondered how we would get home.

By the next day it had rained so hard that cell reception was down for many hours in the whole area. The multiple days of intense rainstorms will be chalked up with the Monument bomb cyclone as the worst climate change anomalies I’ve endured while traveling, and I hope not to top those (please?).  I was eventually able to get a short burst of Internet connectivity, enough to route my way out of Rochester. I felt grateful to have had that dedicated time with adult skaters and to have had such a successful competition.

I’m still here, now freshly double vaxxed along with the rest of our family. We’ve had an easier ride than many this past year so I can’t complain. My husband has been working at home and two of our adult kids are living with us. It’s been great being able to be together, and now the new era dawns.

I’m back on the ice but I’m not really sure what I’m doing out there. I didn’t skate for 7 months except for two heavenly weeks last summer outdoors at Sun Valley. In December Harlick sent my new skates and I got the itch to try them out, but the ice rinks in our area weren’t requiring masks on the ice and I wasn’t comfortable with that. By the end of January, though, the state changed its rules and the rinks began to require masks. There was a beautiful new rink open near me with hardly any customer base, so I started skating again. I’d look ahead on the booking system and find a slot where I’d have private ice or close to it. I broke in my Harlicks half an hour at a time. Now I’m skating an hour most weekdays, still a lot less ice time than I used to have.

I’ve taken up my old hobby of birding. I’ve been a birder all my life but it’s taken a back burner for about a decade due to skating. No more. Birding was a great pandemic hobby. Now I’m not sure what to do. I could continue on as a half-assed birder and half-assed skater or focus more on one.

I’m really enjoying my new Harlicks. They were my easiest break-in ever and needed no modification at all. It helps that I now have more normally shaped feet that are easier to fit. (As I mentioned previously, I had acromegaly which changed me a lot, but now that I’ve been in remission many of those changes have reversed.) I don’t have a big skating project right now, which is a bit confusing to me when I’m out on the ice. I lack focus. And with using this new, hardly populated rink I still haven’t seen most of my skating friends.

My coach Kim retired to protect her health and has no plans to return. I think her grandkids and her garden are keeping her busy and happy. My other coach Sharon is still coaching. I started taking with her again in March. The idea of driving an hour to the rink where she works was less appealing after a year at home but I did it. But the ice at her rink is more crowded which, even with masks, was making me feel unsafe. That was my motivation to find waste prevention COVID vaccine for our family, which I did near the end of March.  I stopped talking my lessons until I felt confident that I had some good antibodies from the vaccine. I’m about to go back. Wish me luck figuring out what I’m doing out there.

What are you doing with your election stress? I’m phone banking. And tonight I read too much WaPo, Atlantic, Slate, and Nate Silver. Should have watched the Seahawks. I also wrote down this recipe.

I was late to the party on pandemic baking, but lately I’ve been making these crackers regularly. They are a classic from Sarah Britton’s My New Roots blog that many other folks have adapted. If you haven’t checked out her blog or cookbooks, you should. Her recipes are reliable and her directions are very clear.

I’ve made her fig variation of these crackers, which is killer, her rosemary variation, and multiple variations of my own. Lately I’ve been enjoying a hazelnut cocoa version (Nutella was on to something– but you can do better) and a pecan-rosemary-raisin version. For the original recipe, which makes prettier individual crackers, go here.

In my adaptation, I use extra-virgin olive oil instead of ghee or coconut oil. I grind up the flax seeds and sesame seeds to make them digestible. And instead of scoring the crackers I like to just leave them as one whole sheet. Then I can break them up into random pieces. Not Insta-ready, but practical for me.

Homemade crackers are not store crackers, they will never be perfectly even and crisp. They can burn or be too soft like some misfit cookie. I’m not a great baker, so these facts have deterred me in the past. My tips: roll them out as thinly as possible. Keep the oven light on so you can see what’s happening. Adjust the oven temperature if necessary (convection ovens cook hot). If they are not crispy, bake them longer but be careful.

I’ve made this rosemary version so much that I’ve harvested the rosemary in my garden as much as it can take. Too bad it’s just a couple plants, at the rate I’m making these crackers I think I’m going to need a rosemary hedge. I bought a package of fresh rosemary at the store, it was a splurge. Now I think I will wait until my co-op starts selling big packages of herbs for people to use to stuff turkeys at Thanksgiving. That or rob the rosemary hedge down the street (shhh).

I’ve been almost entirely off the ice since March 6th. Certain ice rinks where I live have opened for freestyle under limited conditions. No music can be played. Masks are not required and that doesn’t work for me. I wrote the manager asking for a masks-required freestyle and he replied that “No masks are required for any “ON ICE “ events. USA HOCKEY and USFSA discourage skaters wearing them on the ice.” I certainly hope that’s not right, though I should call USFSA member services and inquire. But his statement is not encouraging as far as the chances that he’d be open to offering a masks-required session.

Coach Kim decided to retire rather than return to the rink during the pandemic. That hurts, though I understand and agree. I hope, though, that she’ll think about coaching again when COVID subsides. She retired once and returned, so a girl can hope.

My coaches Sharon and Steve Baker coach at a rink that is still closed. A lot of exercise facilities including their rink were planning to open in King County’s Phase III, but we are stuck on indefinite hold in Phase II. I’m glad WA has been trying to do the right things, so I’m not complaining.

My husband had serious cabin fever this spring, yet we couldn’t think of many activities we’d feel comfortable doing. He started talking about how he’d really like to buy an Airstream trailer so we could travel in a safe way. Long-term travel around the country in an RV has been a persistent dream of his. I was never interested because I didn’t want to leave my life at home. But many of the things I didn’t want to leave, like visits with friends and skating, were not happening anyway. so my resistance evaporated.

My husband will be working from home for the rest of the year and I imagine, beyond. So this was a good chance for him to try out the ‘digital nomad’ lifestyle and work from the road. Part of what made me buy in was the thought that we could drive to Sun Valley and I could skate there at their outdoor rink. And that will be the subject of my next post.

Airstream under the stars

Balloon at Sonoran Desert Preserve

Back in late February and early March I was absorbed in getting ready for adult Sectionals. Luckily for me I had a burst of travel right before we had to shut everything down. I was in Phoenix for a family event and got to skate at the Ice Den Scottsdale. It’s a beautiful rink with an electric figure skating atmosphere. Thanks to having attended Lala Van Camp’s skating camp in Chandler, I knew lots of the adults and coaches on the ice, including Sectionals competitors, and felt right at home. Todd Gilles and Douglas Razzano were both on the ice working with students.

Leap Day, February 29th, was the day that the first US COVID death was reported at the LifeCare of Kirkland, Washington. That hit alarmingly close to home for me, since I’d visited that LifeCare several times in December 2018 when my brother-in-law was there (I was not impressed at all with the facility– among other things, my BIL’s wallet was never found after he was sent back to the hospital).

Worse, my sister-in-law, who was with us on that trip to Phoenix, lives in assisted living not too far from there. I was worried for her safety. We had an immediate family meeting to see if we could bring her home. Unfortunately, she can’t manage the physical layout of our home short of an extensive remodel. So far, she is still OK. Residents at her facility have still not been tested, and my anxiety continues.

A pair of cactus wrens at Sonoran Desert Preserve

At the time Pacific Coast Sectionals competitors had gotten two emails through US Figure Skating from the competition’s registrar. They haven’t aged well. The first on February 26th was titled: “Competition Proceeding as Planned – No Coronavirus Detected in SF!” It read:

Hi Everyone,

We’ve gotten a few questions from competitors about San Francisco’s declaration of emergency around the Coronavirus. So, we thought you would all appreciate getting the same update we provided them.

No cases of Coronavirus have been found in San Francisco. Rather, the action by the city provides flexibility to reallocate city resources to proactively prepare in case any action is needed in the future. It also paves the way for state and federal funding to cover the preparedness program.

In summary, San Francisco is free of the Coronavirus, and therefore the Pacific Coast Adult Sectionals are proceeding as planned.

We look forward to seeing you there!

We got another email on the 28th:

Hi to all competitors and coaches!

There is much talk about the coronavirus, it seems, everywhere you turn right now.  In our effort to just provide facts, and not create chaos or hysteria, the LOC wants to share a press release statement from U.S. Figure Skating that was just posted today.  The following link will take you to the statement written by Dr. Kristin Abbott, MD, FAAFP, the Sport Science and Medicine Committee Chair.

https://www.usfigureskating.org/news/press-release/statement-regarding-novel-coronavirus-disease-covid-19

Please have a read through it, as there are recommendations for everyone to follow to help keep you healthy.

At this time, no figure skating events have been postponed or canceled due to COVID-19. U.S. Figure Skating will continue to follow the direction of the CDC, WHO and ISU as the situation develops.

Each individual is strongly encouraged to practice the recommended steps of good hygiene to reduce his or her own exposure to any virus. 

On my last day in Phoenix one of the other adult skaters on the ice was doing run-throughs, in costume, of her Sectionals routine. She asked me whether I was still planning on going to Sectionals in San Francisco. I couldn’t advise her that it would be safe, but I had an important medical appointment in San Francisco so I was going to go there regardless. She told me she thought she would withdraw, and I believe she did.

On March 2 I called my sister-in-law’s assisted living to talk with the director about how they planned to protect the residents. My family flew home to Seattle, and I went on to my next stop, Los Angeles, to work with coach Gary and then head to San Francisco together.

Phoenix skyline

I plan to watch this in just a few hours, who wants to join me? It’s a benefit put on by some of our favorite skaters to get supplies to health care workers to fight COVID-19.

Update: I watched the benefit and contributed to Americares. I enjoyed Gracie and Jason’s enthusiasm. The skaters’ contributions were uneven, but there were a few gems like Viktor Petrenko dancing and Kurt Browning rocking footwork on roller skates. The emotional heart of it was hearing from Gracie Gold’s mother, who is an ER nurse. She recounted that while people are calling them heroes, she is afraid to go to work every day. That makes her more of a hero in my book.

This was a very full and rich year for me with my skating. As my husband just said, “Especially for a girl who started the year with brain surgery. Yolo!” True, I was feeling pretty yolo after that and I got to go and do so many things. Some of my favorites:

Skating my ‘Believe’ program at Sectionals. My sisters came to watch me skate for the first time ever, and I was thrilled to be back on the ice so quickly after my surgery.

Ben and Katherine regaling us with their stories at the Colorado skate camp (there was one about a ninja class they took together in Japan that I particularly enjoyed).

Skating my ‘Avatar‘ program at a show with all the little skaters so excited about my costume.

Lala’s Arizona Adult Skating Camp (which I still need to blog about). Sinead Kerr’s mesmerizingly deep edges, high-level ice dancers taking their tests, dancing with Todd Gilles and Tim McKernan.

Working on the twizzle pattern on intermediate moves and starting to get the hang of it. Beginning to feel hope that I could pass these moves within a few years, enough to start putting in consistent effort working on them.

Skating at the holiday shows, especially the ‘Jingle Bell Cha-Cha’ duet.

I’m glad I had my skating to anchor and enhance my life throughout all of the changes life brought me this year.

My friend, skating coach Lisa C., asked me if I would skate a duet for the Winter Solstice Show with her student Chris. Of course! I love Lisa’s projects so I say yes whenever possible. I hadn’t met Chris before but was pleased to find out that he’s a good skater, a fun person, and tall! 

Lisa gave us some music suggestions, and when Chris heard the Jingle Bell Cha-Cha, he said, “That’s it.” I agreed. It’s from 1959 and I love its retro Mrs. Maisel-style cool. Though we only had a short time to pull our number together, we were able to remember our choreography and skate it for the show with all the elements going well. And we had fun! It was a win all around and I hope to skate with Chris and Lisa C. again.

Last year I wasn’t able to participate in any holiday ice shows. I’d planned to skate my ‘Believe’ program in one, not knowing at first whether I’d have surgery before the show date. As it turned out, I didn’t, but my back went out right before the show and I couldn’t perform. This year I had no such problem, so I was able to skate a solo in one show and a duet in another.

The first show was at a rink that used to have a lot of high-level skaters. Thanks to some coaches leaving a few years ago, it’s a more relaxed place with mostly beginning and intermediate skaters. In the past I’d never been able to qualify to skate a solo at this rink, but thanks to the changes I was able to do so.

As I was warming up on the second, small ice surface I suddenly realized that my legs were shaking and I was surprisingly nervous for no really good reason. I thought, well, better skate that out for another minute or two. But just then the ice monitor told me to get off and line up behind the curtain for my performance. I was still a bit more nervous than usual when I went on, and there was a little improv in the middle of my piece, but I don’t think any of that was obvious to the casual observer. Overall I think I look like I was having fun (which I mostly was).

I got some supportive comments afterward from skating friends, and my husband and young adult came to watch me too. That felt good. I was feeling the community as I got to watch performances by skaters I’ve been on the ice with for years. During that time some have gone from talented teen skater to young adult professional or from pre-teen to teen.

One thing I love about skating in October and November is hearing everyone’s Christmas music and seeing their programs as they put something together for the holiday show. It’s one of the better parts of the holiday for me. Crazy me, I’ve been skating at three different rinks, so I got to see a lot of different holiday programs this year. I’ll tell you about my duet in my next post.

Somehow Ben and Katherine got out with one of the other coaches and made it to his nearby house, but the rest of us weren’t going anywhere. Just walking to a vehicle in the parking lot and then giving up and walking back into the rink was more than enough time outside. People would stumble back in gasping from the wind needling the snow into their faces. Though I grew up in the Midwest, I’d never experienced anything like this snow hurricane.

I wouldn’t pick an ice rink to weather out a storm, but we had a snack bar, power, heat, and a break room with couches, so it could have been worse. In the late afternoon a snowplow driver who worked for the rink’s owners came by and ferried a group of us, including me, to the hotel. It was maybe not the greatest idea and though it was only a few miles it was a long and hairy ride and we saw lots of abandoned vehicles along the way. He decided not to make a second trip. But later in the evening one of the guys was able to get out with a truck and bring the rest of the skaters to our hotel.

The hotel became an emergency stop for many stranded travelers, who slept in the breakfast room and the halls with sheets provided by the hotel. Power was off and on. The next day most highways were still closed as abandoned vehicles needed to be cleared before they could be plowed, and there were no flights in or out of Denver. Our little group of skaters bonded as we all stayed one or two extra days.

We watched TV, learning that the storm had been a bomb cyclone with wind speed up to 94 mph. We walked to a nearby McDonald’s for food– first time I’d eaten there in decades– and amused ourselves looking out the windows watching people try to dig their cars out of the parking lot.

Franciscan digging the snow off his truck’s engine

Well it was an adventure, but I’m still glad I came to this camp. I’d definitely come back again, though March in Denver is iffy, they might want to think about changing the date.