
Father Jewels Society









2023
By request from Founding Member Frank, a special exception was made to the traditional meeting date for the annual gathering. It was decided to meet during the 3rd week in March after the vernal equinox. By happenstance a major winter storm brought close to 4 feet of snow to the mountain! By the time the members had arrived at FJ's headquarters 2 weeks later, the skies had opened up and the weather had moderated to a balmy 50 degrees. Spring skiing has now become a reality on the Father Jewels skiing circuit. With such success, the By-Laws were amended to allow for future spring-skiing gatherings. The traditional steak and potato dinner was enjoyed by two of the members with Dana abstaining due to a newly acquired dental implant that precluded him from chewing on the savory cut of NY strip. Fueled with this communion meal, the boys hit the slopes and skied a full day, logging 16 runs, 20 miles, max speeds of 35 MPH and 23,436 vertical feet. Lunch on the outdoor patio overlooking the gondola was enjoyed while baking in the warm sunshine. Bloody's abounded. 2nd night activities included an at-home sausage and pasta dinner (Garlic John's, a staple of carb loading at prior annual meetings recently went out of business) followed by a billiard competition that, though closely contested, reaffirmed Taylor at the top of the pyramid of players with Dana ousting Frank after an early loss in the preliminary round. The night was capped off sitting around the fire with a glass of scoootch in hand. Day 2 of skiing saw a weather front of rain arrive in the late morning (did we upset his eminence?) and by mutual aggreement the members elected to remain at headquarters and enjoy a leisurely breakfast of hotcakes and bacon. Taylor is admonished for inadvertently using Frank's black Stratton Mountain coffee cup. Though an infraction, it did not invoke the pink ball rule.