Weeping Willow

Wednesday morning we hit the ground running (despite champagne and wine) after a very entertaining evening at Helen Lundberg and Egil Ellis' house for dinner, and what a dinner it was: course after course of luscious, earthy fare on the candle-lit table, even a cheese course, and loads of stories from these very accomplished Scandinavian sprint mushers. The rare moose Helen served with a velvety cream sauce and the hand-picked wild mushroom and potato gratin were out of this world, as was the entire meal. We were still talking about it this morning on the drive to Willow, where Tim and Colleen ran the dogs for the last time before the race. Tim's nerves are palpable at times, he's given up shaving and is suffering from preparatory narcolepsy; I think it's time we got this party started.