Marc Comtois

A leaf long fallen Flew again Lifted by a familiar breeze. It floated up, then down Twirled 'round and with a bound Danced with seeming glee. Yet its airy parade Was but a charade. As the animating wind Faded again, The leaf rocked down Floated to ground Lifeless and brown as before.

As I was driving to my soccer game last night, the snow was coming down, the roads were a mess and the Beastie Boys "No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn" came on the radio. This confluence of events called to mind the winter I spent working the T-bar at Hermon Mountain ('86-'87). Weekends and late week nights spent in the cold, earning some $ and screwing off with a bunch of Hermon and Bangor guys were a blast. A bunch of college-bound kids tasked with keeping a diesel-engine driven ski lift running? Yeah, that worked out well! Then there was the T-bar rocket seating method, where we would put the smart-ass little kids on the lift, but hold the bar long enough to get the spring inside the bar full of tension. Then RELEASE and aaaaahhhhh! Hey, we thought it was funny. Snowball fights, sliding down Cloud Nine on snow shovels, working in the rental shop and setting bindings without having a CLUE as to what the hell I was doing...good times! *Originally written...