Liquid, vapor or solid water in its many forms to me are a source of fun, excitement and beauty.
I enjoy water in all its manifestations and for 50 some years when fall turns into winter, sunlight becomes scarce and temperatures drop below freezing I look forward to ice materializing on puddle’s, ponds and lakes. As far back as I can remember my 2 older brothers and I have searched for perfect skate-able ice some years with no luck.
When conditions were right and we found that the lake near our house had frozen over we tested the strength of that ice by keeping one foot on solid ground and inching the other onto the newly formed ice seeing if it would hold us.
We usually had to wait a couple of days for the ice to grow thicker and strong enough so we didn’t fall through but we skated on thin ice that moaned at our impulsive want to glide across a frozen body of water. Skates, hockey sticks and pucks at the ready we could wait no more the potential of falling though was part of the excitement. My oldest brother seemingly every year was the one who could find the weakest ice proudly exhibiting his wet and frozen skates and sometimes wet and frozen pants up to his waist.
With confidence in the ice growing we would venture further out, the sound of metal blades cutting into the ice echoing across the lake mixing with laughter as we searched for slap shot pucks that gilded on forever some never to be found.
We have never lost our love for a good frozen puddle, pond or lake and we shared that love with family and friend. We still search for newly frozen over first of the season ice and we send out the call “grab your skates I found a spot.” The spot could be ponds of less than an acre to lakes of many acres some years only small sections skate- able to some year’s nature Zamboni-ing every inch for our enjoyment.
Now with knees that ache and backs that don’t bend like they used to the call to lace up the skates is still heeded so out with a shovel to clear a spot on the ice of snow we venture out to play a game of hockey 2 brothers and a niece/daughter against 2 dogs. The skate-able ice may only last a couple of hours or a day or 2 but you learn to enjoy what is given … game on!
