City Skate
The ice at Deering Oaks, the large Allen Avenue pond, the small one behind Deering High School---Going on a late afternoon skating adventure at a couple of the large city ponds was always fun. They were packed on the weekends and school vacations, and twilight time was especially stirring. As the shadows began to fall a special excitement would build. The older teens would build small fires to help chase the chill away, and there were invariably lots of new faces to check out, especially among the fairer sex. And sometimes, holding hands in long lines and moving fast provided the ones on the end quite a 'whip' as we went hurtling off towards the darkness. I was young, but not too young to envy the teen couples skating off into the shadows of night. Ah... to have a girlfriend to skate with, at twilight? Maybe the highlight of true winter fun.
j'aime bien les patinoires naturelles, c'est agreable de faire du patin dehors
ReplyDeleteHow I loved skating there! It was romanitic, even though we were no longer teens...and what a lovely sense of calling out greetings & laughing with the others, or commenting on people's "stunts". It's like we all knew this was something special. And then, the loveliness of Deering Oaks surrounding us...
ReplyDeleteI have many fond memories of ice skating during my youth. Thanks for evoking these memories this morning.
ReplyDeletelove the reflection of that pink snowsuit on the ice.
ReplyDeleteNice to see kids still get outdoors and ice skate. Good memories, Birdman.
ReplyDeleteI never mastered the art of skating. I love the way the youngster in pink is reflected in the surface of the ice.
ReplyDeleteI love your last phrase! I've never skated on real frozen ponds, I'd like to skate among nature. But I remember that feeling of skating and holding a hand... hummmm!
ReplyDeleteI learned to ice skate in Maine while dad was stationed at Loring AFB. I used an older girls figure skates stuffed with socks. She had bells on them, didn't bother me though as I just wanted to skate. We moved to Glen St. in Caribou and I got my own skates. My mom would put my skates on and my brother and I would skate down the street to a park area near our school. Only problem was going home, all up hill. Didn't skate on an indoor rink until my junior year of high school after we were transferred to Ohio. Smoooooth ice, WOW!
ReplyDeleteDuring the holidays one of the nearby towns had an outdoor skating rink. No mind you our highs in December were probably in the 50s and 60s. It was a riot watching Texans attempting to ice skate!
ReplyDeletehave never ice skated.
ReplyDeleteBirdman -- when I was a young parent we lived on a farm with our own private pond. We would have hot chocolate skating parties for friends. Truly Norman Rockwell-ish days. Nice post -- barbara
ReplyDeleteMy memories of the rink in the park behind our house, was avoiding the hockey pucks that were flying about.
ReplyDeleteLove hearing about your rink and above readers' rinks. I skated in my mother's 1930's skates w/socks stuffed in toes - on the flooded public tennis court. Sometimes I went at night and was the only one there and the moon on the ice was magical.
ReplyDeleteIn Minnesota, ice skating on ponds was THE deal ... and romance was always in the wind in the teen years. Great fun.
ReplyDeleteLooks like fun!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely story! We just celebrated Hockey Day Minnesota on the 19th, and people were skating at rinks and on ponds and lakes all over the state at all times of the day and evening.
ReplyDeleteMan, it has been a looooooong time since I went skating on a pond like this. My kids have missed out on it, too.
ReplyDeleteRemember outdoor skating rinks and wonder how we survived the cold weather?!
ReplyDeleteBe careful what you wish for. It might come true, but what happens after that is uncontrollable.
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