Crap. A Photo Op. And in this weather. Still. I've learned not to ignore a photo op; it eats me up for years. I went home, threw on a hoodie, down coat, and my ugliest warm galoshes. I grabbed the camera, and ran back to park near this little pond. I walked the 1/4 mile or so in to get to these guys, while I simultaneously bitched about the cold and patted myself on the back.
Here's a brief sampling of what I came home with; there were about 75 all together.
These guys had the gear: the goal, the skates, the clothes, and the sunglasses. Their skates and sticks rang out on the ice as I watched them play. They all seemed experienced and impressive.
And, on the way out, I happened upon a hockey game of another sort. The sort I would have taken part in when I was about their age.
These guys had...uh...the sticks. Some shoes. Some gloves and mittens.
Yes, this is the game I would have played. I was one of the kids with Wonder bread bags pulled up over my shoes and rubber banded at the top, to keep snow out of my socks. Mismatched mittens and scarves and hats, and coats zipped over so many sweaters we could hardly move our arms.
We were the kids that slid down the hill on a cardboard box, unabashedly racing those 6-up on a toboggan.
It never occurred to us that we couldn't.
My God, we had fun.
I have to give all of these guys, skates or no skates, credit for getting out there today. I was out there less than 10 minutes, with my warmest gloves and still my fingertips began screaming from freezation. I hurried back to my car and got myself home, to check out the photos. I like these. Every photo I took makes me smile. Crazy kids.
It's all about heart.
-3f is -19c!! Holy shite! And people actually can live in those temperatures! "It's all about heart". You are certainly right. It would be an effort to just keep it going!
ReplyDeleteIf you are feeling a bit chilled, grab a plane here as tomorrow and Monday are going to top 100f.
BTW, TP doesn't follow my interest in blogs but has been reading a few of yours and reckons you write great posts. She didn't say anything about mine!
Hi G
ReplyDeleteReminds me of when we were kids playing on the local ponds, we even used the bread bags inside our skates. I remember we didn't have goals so we would pile up snow which you had to dig through to find the puck after anyone scored. We lived on a dirt road that would freeze solid so you could put on your skates at the house and actually skate up the road to the pond. Now had you put on your skates and joined in on the game you would find after a few minutes of skating and checking it doesn't seem near as cold out...
Yeah, the good ol days...Cannonball Hill and... okay, well there werent really too many places to sled because we don't have many hills. But I still remember them.
ReplyDeleteI hate freezation. (Great pictures, good for you!)
ReplyDeleteIn Arizona there aren't many occasions to slide down a snowy hill, so we had to improvise. We had a hill up the canyon from our house, it was steep and was slippery because of the loose gravel. We tried sliding down the hill on cardboard, but the cardboard disintegrated on the gravel. Then we tried car hood but it was to heavy to drag back up the hill for a second ride. We finally found a rusty sheet of corrugated tin, and it worked great, until Dad saw us and made us stop because of something he call "decaptation" and "amputation" and "how stupid are you kids anyway," but it was fun while it lasted.
ReplyDeleteMost excellent! Very fun stuff - I give you credit for dealing with the cold to get these shots, too!
ReplyDeletegosh this looks like so much fun...why did the game look way more enthralling without the skates??? Hmm
ReplyDeleteCan you really move across the ice without wonder bread bags on your shoes or skates? I mean I guess so they are doing it right?
Oh yes thanks for the insight... next time I go to the bathroom I shall say: "now is not a good time, ok, gramma?"!!!
Thanks