Ski wax, Adobe Illustrator, and Christmas frosting

  

It's like art class in preschool. Smearing, dotting, drawing lines.

This winter I'm learning how to hot wax cross country skis. I fought this for years, but with a son (whom I don't yet trust with a hot iron) on the nordic ski team, I've had to learn. For ski waxing, you drip hot wax in a line or dots onto the bottom of the ski and smear it around.

But you can't eat ski wax...

This month, I'm learning how to use Adobe Illustrator, making a bunch of maps for our forthcoming book, Hiking the North Shore.  Thank God for the multiple layers of undo functions in computer software. But basically it's smearing, dotting and drawing lines. Above is the map for a hike in Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. 

But you can't eat a map...

Finally, it's been Christmas cookie time. This last week, I pulled out the frosting applicator and learned to use that. At first it felt like ski waxing. Then it felt like using Illustrator. A few dots, a few lines, and some red hots.


AND YOU CAN EAT A COOKIE!