I tend to look forward to the weekends as time I get to spend at home. After a long week (and some weeks are longer than others) the prospect of an unplanned, low-key weekend is really appealing. For me. L often has other ideas, since he recharges in a totally different way. He tends to draw me out and get me to do things I might not otherwise choose, and generally, I’m thankful for it.

This weekend, which would have been my first full weekend at home in a month, I was ready to return to routine – farmer’s market, do stuff around the house, snuggle under a blanket and knit, etc. – when our friend Josh, home from Germany, invited us to to his parents’ place in the country to spend the weekend cross country skiing. It was an offer too good to pass up, even when I was wistful for a quiet weekend, so early Saturday morning we set out, along with Josh’s friend Anna. And you know, I’m so, so glad we did.

Josh is a good friend, and someone we don’t see often enough. He came to spend New Year’s with us, though, so that plus a weekend away was pretty fantastic. He’s an excellent host, and the weekend featured great food, new games (Tichu!) and lots of outdoors time.

There was too much storm damage to ski through the woods, so on Saturday we set off across the fields. There was a thing layer of surface snow over hard-packed try snow, over a thick layer of ice, so tracks weren’t really necessary and we all skied together. I’m not a very experienced cross country skier, but we weren’t doing anything technical and it was nice to get out all together.

It snowed Saturday night, making for much trickier skiing on Sunday. Neither Anna nor I are all that proficient, so after Josh’s binding broke we decided to go for a wintry hike through the woods instead. I’m so glad we got to do both – there’s something magical about the woods in the winter. It’s so quiet in there, and the colours are so stark. We were out for over an hour, and I’ll admit to being quite cold by the time we got back to the house. L jokes all the time about wanting a pair of knitted long johns, but I think I need them more than he does.

Speaking of knitting, I manage to get in a little bit in and around all the other activities of the weekend. I cast on for a pair of Stepping-Stones (for me!) on Friday night, and cast off the first one last night. I’m knitting these up in some stashed Tosh DK in the Cosmos colourway, and they’re ticking right along, which is a good thing, because the temperature is going to take a dive tonight (they’re calling for -25C, which is -13F) and I’m going to need another pair of thick socks.