Discover More from This Category: Mountain Meditation
Riding over the mountains: an expedition to a rodeo wedding
April 24, 2024
Building a Killington Dream Lodge, Part 10 As the ski house we were building in Killington grew, I did, too, from age 7 on up. I entered adolescence and continued helping with various tasks. My latest assignment was pretty exciting compared to repairing our tar paper roof. I climbed a ladder to the top of…
Crêpe breakfast tradition at sport hill
April 17, 2024
Building a Killington Dream Lodge: Part 9 Dad was on a mission to build our ski lodge so wasn’t thrilled by invitations to escape our Killington work camp. But Mom and I were elated and ready to get off “the reservation” whenever we could. When our friend Ann relayed an invitation from Walter and Emile…
Our friend Ann Wallen, ‘Only in Vermont!’
April 10, 2024
My brother Billie met Ann Wallen when he attended Colton ski camp. Ann was helping out in the kitchen and knew we’d become friends, too. That was the week Dad bought our land under 6 feet of snow from Oren Bates. It was 1958 when Killington was just beginning. When we arrived to begin our…
Mountain Meditation: My double life and nearly opposite parents
April 3, 2024
Building our Killington Dream dream lodge, Part 7 I felt I was living a double life since everything happened Friday through Sunday. Returning to “normalcy” in New Jersey resembled acting in a surreal play. We knew once we crossed the New York State line and entered Vermont, the magic would start. Our weekends were filled…
Challenges and Critters Building our Killington Dream Lodge, Part 6
March 27, 2024
We were making progress on Dad’s Killington dream lodge, but it was slow going with lots of delays, often due to frequent weather changes. Whenever it rained, water leaked onto the floor. When it was bitter cold, ice carpeted the back room. With electricity in our basement at last, extension cords snaked around the room.…
Mountain Meditation: The grand unveiling, midnight surprise and floor show
March 20, 2024
Building our Killington dream lodge, part 6 When the power company man climbed a tree to connect wires to our basement ski lodge, Mom planned a party to celebrate the grand occasion for which we’d been waiting. Mom selected a rectangular table with two benches she’d stashed in our house in Montclair, New Jersey. We…
Mountain Meditation: Our ice skating rink and potbelly stove
March 13, 2024
Building a Killington dream lodge, part 5 Mom and I perfected the art of dressing in bed when it was cold, which was quite often in Vermont’s Green Mountains. We giggled as we wiggled out of and into our clothing. It wasn’t easy, especially for me, inside my narrow mummy sleeping bag. I felt like…
Mountain Meditation: Building a Killington Dream Lodge: Part 4
March 11, 2024
Flat tires, Dad’s right hand tomboy, roof leaks ad infinitum The year Dad bought two acres in Killington was when my older brother, Jack, left home for the University of New Hampshire to study forestry. Our brother Billie played high school football and wasn’t free to join us most weekends. So Mom, Dad, our lab…
The big move from tent to basement
February 21, 2024
Part 3 of a series on building our Killington dream lodge Every weekend and during vacations we fled to Vermont for more adventures while building the ski lodge Dad dreamed of. While residing in our tent in the woods, we cleared the land and leveled the ground, no small achievement in a state made of rock.…
Mountain Meditation: Setting up camp in the frozen north Building our Killington dream lodge, part two
February 15, 2024
Author’s note: This is part two of a series on the Dye family Vermont adventure. We always arrived in Killington late on our drive from New Jersey on the highways. After winding our way up dark mountain roads, we forded across Roaring Brook (before the bridge was built), rounded the bend, and climbed to the…
Mountain Meditation: Building our Killington dream lodge, Part 1: Vermont or bust
February 7, 2024
Forward: I’ve decided to share my family’s adventures of building our ski house since I was a girl. For several weeks, I’ll recount in my column early memories of our Killington years. Isn’t it strange while living our lives, we often lose sight of what is special—of people, places, and all that helps to form…
Mountain Meditation: Trickster’s message: Lighten up
January 31, 2024
I haven’t been in touch with Bear Spirit for a while. I thought I’d let him hibernate in peace and quiet. But then I recalled I hadn’t shared all my interaction with the coyote who appeared in person and in spirit right before the snow fell. I entered my Radiant Heavenly Heat Sauna and began…
Mountain Meditation: Think Snow and the Zen mogul flow
January 24, 2024
When I was 5 my dad taught me to ski on a tiny slope in northern New Jersey. I remember the first time I grabbed a rope tow. I grasped it tightly with mittened hands and catapulted forward above the ground. The snow was soft and it didn’t hurt in spite of doing a…
Mountain meditation: Heed the winds of change
January 17, 2024
“We are stars wrapped in skin. The light you are seeking has always been within,” said Rumi, a 13th-century poet. When winds of change stir up our world, we often feel unsteady and confused. But these strong winds are ushering in a new era for the human race and a new psyche for us. We’re…
Mountain Meditation: There’s something about the mountains
January 10, 2024
Mountain Meditation By Margeurite Jill Dye There’s something about the mountains That calms a troubled soul. The air is fresh, the sky is blue, serenity, extolled. Red foxes, bears and coyotes, squirrels and beaver run, Hunt and play in meadows and fields, On peaks and ledges in fog or sun. Honking…