Skiing

James Caswell Merritt, a vice president of business development for McCormick & Co. Inc. spice company and an avid outdoorsman, died of cardiac arrest Friday while water-skiing with his family at Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland. The Parkton resident was 51. Born and raised in Texas, Mr. Merritt spent much of his childhood moving around that state - from Pasadena to the Shell Oil Co.'s refinery in Deer Park and then Odessa - as his father, a refinery manager, was transferred from one post to another.

Barry Virum Bowen, a retired University of Baltimore professor of political science, died May 30 from complications of a stroke at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The Lutherville resident was 80. The son of newspaper parents, Dr. Bowen was born and raised in Milwaukee, where he graduated from high school. After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1955, he served in the Navy as a flight instructor for three years. He earned a master's degree from the University of Hawaii and his doctorate from George Washington University.

About three-quarters of the way through the very, very long "Aspen Extreme," I heard a little boy -- the next, great, American critic, I'm sure -- turn to his mother and say, "Mommy, is this a real movie?"Of course, it isn't.Besides its interminable length and its surprising lack of razzle-dazzle skiing sequences, it turns out to be a moldy retread of youth tube TV cliches: "Beverly Hills 90210 Downhill," that sort of thing. It's jammed with angst and agony and self-doubt as it takes its uniformly attractive, dreary cast through the usual temptations and triumphs.

Shake it off - we know the morning after is always a little rough. But it's time to return gifts, return to work, return to school backpacks, and return to whose-turn-is-it to call about the leak in the second bathroom? The holidays are finished, my friend. The signs are everywhere: You have passed the stage of feeling fat and are now just fat. And, oddly enough, it feels OK. The Christmas tree has turned from a sprightly, timberline green to the hue of whole wheat bread. One package remains under the tree, but you don't have the strength to open it. It's probably from your aunt in Wisconsin who works like a dog all year at the Wal-Mart and can't afford really nice presents.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger underwent surgery yesterday to repair a broken right femur and was cleared to resume his official duties, the governor's office announced. He broke his thigh bone Saturday while skiing in Idaho. The surgery "involved using cables and screws to wire the two main fragments of the governor's broken femur bone back together. It lasted approximately an hour and a half, was without complication, and the post-operation X-rays look great," Dr. Kevin Ehrhart, an orthopedic surgeon, said in the prepared statement.

You say your search for the fluffiest champagne powder is taking too much time from your pursuit of the world's silkiest champagne sauce and its bubbly ingredients?Why not sate both appetites on the same trip? Numerous Rocky Mountain resorts are offering skiing gourmets off-the-slope gustatory adventures to match the challenge of the ski runs.Snowbird, in Utah, kicks off the gourmet skiing season with its fourth annual Winterfest, a three-day celebration the first weekend in December. This year's event (Dec.

"This valley is so beautiful that people seeing it will never be happy anywhere else and will always return." -- Arapaho Chief NiwotYou can sit atop a rock formation on the shores of Gold Lake in Ward, Colo., and almost feel Chief Niwot's presence. He was right. The view of the Continental Divide, dominated by the majestic slopes of Arapaho Mountain, is breathtaking. The cold mountain air sits crisply on your face, and the ice-blue skies are laced with clouds. Chief Niwot's curse, as the locals refer to his now famous quote, brings me back to Boulder, Colo.

Donald Carl Robinson Sr., co-owner of a Northwest Baltimore hairstyling business and avid skier, died of cancer Tuesday at his Lochearn home. He was 60. Mr. Robinson and his wife, the former Margaret Carter, operated Donmar's Hair Spa, a beauty salon and women's clothing boutique in Northwest Baltimore, for nearly three decades. Born in Baltimore and raised in the city's Lafayette Square neighborhood, he was a 1960 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School. He earned undergraduate and master's degrees in business administration and international finance from what is now Morgan State University, working on the General Motors assembly line at Broening Highway to pay for his education.

A good part about leaving town is that for a few days the tribe is not stomping through the house breaking things. The only house part that broke, for example, during the recent week our clan was up in Massachusetts and Vermont, was the water faucet in our Baltimore backyard. The faucet simply fell off the water pipe it was connected to. I suspect fatigue, a condition I identify with.A bad part about going away with your family is the car trip. After an extended period of family togetherness, such as the 500-mile drive we recently completed, I am now ready for an extended period of family apart-ness.