With the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics only days away, I thought it might be a good time to discuss......winter sports. This way, if you want something to read in between the ski jumping, snowboarding and ice dancing...you've got some options. The fact that this coincides
with a weekend ski trip with Bettys Keira and Tia has little to no bearing. And by ski trip I mean Betty Keira skied and Betty Tia (who can ski, but has a sore hip) and I (who can't ski...and would rather not risk it) sat in the lodge, enjoyed the beautiful scenery and read us some Neels. We posed with some borrowed ski poles.Very few Neels books have a heroine skiing. None of La Neels heroines can ski...unless she has lessons (rather like speaking Dutch). Ditto ice skating. Of course the hero can. Of course.
Neels novels with skiing:
Two Weeks to Remember
Heaven Around the Corner (The doctor has a dipsomaniac step-sister...who can ski!)
A Dream Came True (the Professor skis...)
Skating:
Damsel in Green (Falls through ice! )
The Awakened Heart (She rescues a child who falls through the ice...then is rescued by the doctor, natch)
My guess is that Betty Neels did not ski...I'm wondering if she skated? She did live in Holland for 11 years, so it is not inconceivable that she could have picked it up. What do you think?
Let's speculate on what Olympic sports would her heroes have competed in or would not:
Biathlon? Yes! (very manly looking sport)
Figure Skating? No!(vast and large...wearing a costume? Nope.)
Your turn.
Thanks for using that picture! I look hot.
ReplyDeleteI look...not so hot but since I'm the only one actually skiing, I give myself 20 extra beauty points.
ReplyDeleteHe would do speed skating of course and, when older and much grayer, curling.
Well, all the Dutch guys skated; it's pretty much required national service. The English ones not so much -- less ice in England! I suspect all the heroes learned how to ski on the obligatory winter ski trips that public (which is to say private) schools take boys on.
ReplyDeleteAnd as we know -- once a Neels hero learns how to do something, he does it perfectly every single time after that until he dies. Or maybe two weeks before he dies if only so he can relax finally at the age of 90+ with his family around him. (I love the early Neels books where the hero's entire family shows up and his father is a snapshot of what he will grow into.)
Betty Magdalen, Neels heroes don't ever learn anything. They spring fully formed out of the earth, knowledge and skills fully intact.
ReplyDeleteBetty Keira -- I don't think so. I think Neels heroes are polite, well-behaved 8-to-12 year olds who learn all this stuff then. Then as they go through the teenage years, there's no adolescent angst, just hard work at school and a solemn charm at home. University, medical degree from Utrecht, all those years of training, etc., etc.
ReplyDeleteNow, I've not had kids, but surely my fellow Bettys can attest to the fundamental principle of childbirth: You don't want the kid to have his skates on in the birth canal. Am I right or am I right?
And for variety some get their degrees from Leiden and Cambridge.
ReplyDeleteThere is an occasional oblique reference to childhood pranks...possibly given by their old nanny...and the heroines often yearn for "delightfully naughty" children. There's an oxymoron if ever there was one.
Oh most definitely right! ;0)
ReplyDelete