Comments | kehlen: LJ Idol - DW - 14: Firebreak (~830 words)

kehlen

LJ Idol - DW - 14: Firebreak (~830 words)

Feb 02, 2019 21:18

A firebreak is a gap in vegetation or other combustible material that acts as a barrier to slow or stop the progress of a bushfire or wildfire. A firebreak may occur naturally where there is a lack of vegetation or "fuel", such as a river, lake or canyon.

~Wiki

My mum grew up in the 1950s and 1960s and she is much more outdoorsy than I am.

When my ( Read more... )

entry:memories, lji_dw, life, brother, me, family, lji, mother

Comments 19

kehlen February 2 2019, 19:13:29 UTC

ConCrit is welcome.

majesticzaichik February 3 2019, 03:36:26 UTC

I've never tried cross country skiing. It sounds fun! But kind of tiring. I do downhill skiing with some regularity and all that moving around you do on cross country sounds a bit tedious, but something I'd like to try.

The name for the ski sticks is "poles" or "ski poles". I've always know that transliteration from English to Russian doesn't always work. It must be the same from Russian to English lol.

kehlen February 3 2019, 03:59:37 UTC

To the contrary, I have never been downhill skiing, only skied down hill on 'ordinary' skies and cannot quite compare, but the advantage of cross-country is that you don't have to regulate your speed most of the time, and the scenery changes all the constantly. Going down the same hill gets pretty boring after a while. (Of course I have never gone down a mountain, because getting back up without a machine to help, no thank you :).)

Oops. Thank you for this correction... but Wiki says that the UK word is sticks *rolleyes * (and so does the dictionary I consulted).

I will have to choose which between the UK and US verbiage one day and be consistent about it. (If only dictionaries gave both and mentioned which is which!) I remember the purse-wallet confusion, too. Because yes, I have a purse in my handbag (not a wallet in my purse 😏), but generally I just use whichever word I know. A lot of the time I don't even know there are two...

majesticzaichik February 3 2019, 04:06:08 UTC

Oh how interesting. I had no idea about that, the British word.

I kind of think that word should not exist just because the UK does not have any skiing PERIOD. Not downhill or cross country, through supposedly somewhere in the UK they have snow-less skiing where they do it on nets.

Whatever word you use is up to you, of course : ).

kehlen February 4 2019, 19:30:49 UTC

You know, I think you will enjoy "Eddie the Eagle" movie. It shows what came out of there being no skiing in the UK (quite true) very nicely.

rayaso February 4 2019, 16:47:13 UTC

I love your vignettes. The cross-country ski adventures sound like so much fun! I'm afraid I'm not familiar with salted lard, but the rest of the food sounds great for a winter trip. You are fortunate to be able to take a train, then get out and start skiing.

kehlen February 4 2019, 19:29:23 UTC

The lard is a traditional Russian and Ukrainian food. It may sound strange, and it does have a somewhat greasy consistency at room temperature, but it is kept in the fridge, and quite tasty, especially if there is some meat in it, too. https://www.gastronom.ru/binfiles/images/00000144/00098683.jpg

dmousey February 4 2019, 21:09:29 UTC

I would've liked to try cross country skiing. (Can't now due to arthritis and heart issues.) I did like downhill skiing, but it is a very expensive sport here in the US so I did not go often.

Your trips with your mother and brother sound wonderful, actually. I can imagine the smell of the crisp air and trees, how blue the sky must be...

Thank you for sharing this with us! 😊🎀🐞✌🐁🐭

kehlen February 5 2019, 05:58:43 UTC

And the sparkling snow, when it is cold (below -10C/15F), but not yet too cold to be outside for hours. :)

tatdatcm February 4 2019, 21:34:25 UTC

I've only tried cross-country skiing even though I've now spent half my life living in the Rocky Mountains, which are so well known for downhill skiing. Cross-country was exhausting to me - I didn't like it at all.

I love the little details in your recollection; the dog jumping through the deeper snow, the lunch you brought with you, and the inner glass of the thermos. We were never allowed to hold onto my fathers thermos for the exact reason. :)

kehlen February 5 2019, 06:02:53 UTC

The modern steel thermoses are much less fragile, but the two we have also hold the heat much worse than those old ones did (we had two, and one did end up broken exactly the way my mother predicted several years ago :) ).

I liked it because I never experienced the joys of a machine pulling you up the hill. I did not know the difference :D