there was a very short skating season on canaan street last friday and saturday--thank goodness the pendletons called me.
of course the ice could come back, it has before, but when you get a really big wet snow, like we just had on tuesday, it is rare for all that to melt off and refreeze under normal winter conditions. ah, but what recent winter do you remember as being 'normal'?
'normal' is definitely relative. when pam and i lived in bemidji minnesota, give or take a couple days, you could usually drive on the lakes. freezing that early doesn't seem so assured these days, probably not even in bemidji. with that in mind, on friday after the feast, sawyer and hannah stopped by canaan street to check out the ice. it must not have been to their liking as they didn't come rushing home with a call to grab your skates.
on saturday though, skip called about 10-ish and announced, "the ice is good. we're heading up shortly." just minutes before, i had gotten a call from our sakonnet friend billy, with his own announcement. "we are on our way home on I89 and will stop by in about an hour." like normal is relative, timing is crucial. long story short, i didn't lace up the skates until 4-ish as the sun was going down.
save for the grey-white freeze lines the wind pushes into place as the surface freezes--you can see them in both images above--the ice was crazy smooth. in some places it was even black ice, practically clear and about 3 inches thick. in the picture on the right, linda and skip are looking at a funny strip of black ice. we were puzzled by these when we spotted them here and there.
linda finally guessed that maybe it was an animal 'track' made just as things were going solid. when i found a couple of other spots, that seemed like the answer. the animal--a duck, a muskrat, something--was still in question.
skating over just these little lines made you hold your breath and think light thoughts as you went over them. going out on big areas of black ice can be downright freaky. in years past skip used to send me out to "test" things. this year he was skating right out with me. personally, i love the magic of skating black ice! thank you cory for reminding me of this video.
we kept circling the lake until things got dark enough everything was starting to look like black ice. skip and i took a final quick rush across the lake and back. as we glided to a quiet stop, we listened for the sound of linda's blades. she appeared out of the shadows and when she was close enough you could see her huge smile. as we changed into our boots she repeated something she had already mentioned as we were gliding along earlier, "if this is the only day we get to skate, it will be wonderful."
true that--it is always a joy to go outside and play!--ephemeral or otherwise. and if you are out with people you love...life is sweet.
of course the ice could come back, it has before, but when you get a really big wet snow, like we just had on tuesday, it is rare for all that to melt off and refreeze under normal winter conditions. ah, but what recent winter do you remember as being 'normal'?
'normal' is definitely relative. when pam and i lived in bemidji minnesota, give or take a couple days, you could usually drive on the lakes. freezing that early doesn't seem so assured these days, probably not even in bemidji. with that in mind, on friday after the feast, sawyer and hannah stopped by canaan street to check out the ice. it must not have been to their liking as they didn't come rushing home with a call to grab your skates.
on saturday though, skip called about 10-ish and announced, "the ice is good. we're heading up shortly." just minutes before, i had gotten a call from our sakonnet friend billy, with his own announcement. "we are on our way home on I89 and will stop by in about an hour." like normal is relative, timing is crucial. long story short, i didn't lace up the skates until 4-ish as the sun was going down.
save for the grey-white freeze lines the wind pushes into place as the surface freezes--you can see them in both images above--the ice was crazy smooth. in some places it was even black ice, practically clear and about 3 inches thick. in the picture on the right, linda and skip are looking at a funny strip of black ice. we were puzzled by these when we spotted them here and there.
linda finally guessed that maybe it was an animal 'track' made just as things were going solid. when i found a couple of other spots, that seemed like the answer. the animal--a duck, a muskrat, something--was still in question.
skating over just these little lines made you hold your breath and think light thoughts as you went over them. going out on big areas of black ice can be downright freaky. in years past skip used to send me out to "test" things. this year he was skating right out with me. personally, i love the magic of skating black ice! thank you cory for reminding me of this video.
we kept circling the lake until things got dark enough everything was starting to look like black ice. skip and i took a final quick rush across the lake and back. as we glided to a quiet stop, we listened for the sound of linda's blades. she appeared out of the shadows and when she was close enough you could see her huge smile. as we changed into our boots she repeated something she had already mentioned as we were gliding along earlier, "if this is the only day we get to skate, it will be wonderful."
true that--it is always a joy to go outside and play!--ephemeral or otherwise. and if you are out with people you love...life is sweet.
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