Thursday

The good news is that today we will top the freezing line again. Just a couple of degrees and just for a few hours, but still -- warm, for January in Wisconsin. The bad news is that today we will top the freezing line again. Yesterday afternoon, most of the outdoor ice rinks closed in Madison. I read that there was "puddling." I didn't see any of that on the rink we skated, but perhaps today will be different. Perhaps we'll be chased out of an ice skating adventure by ever forming puddles! I always thought that once formed, ice rinks sort of stayed put, until the first crocuses popped out. Who knew I had to live in fear of melting ice!

Ice skating not withstanding, it was pleasant to walk to the animals this morning in balmy air that was stuck just at the freezing point.

Ed has started talking about our planting plans for spring -- that's how good it feels to be outside right now!

(Breakfast)

At the grandkid home front, everyone is doing exceptionally well. No one has any Covid symptoms, and Snowdrop continues to test negative (as does Primrose in Chicago). True, her brother remains trapped at home while she gets to go about life almost as she knew it before. This is the time to dust off the old saying about life being terribly unfair. There is no other explanation.

 

I picked the little girl up at school in this new way of ours -- I wear a mask, we plan an adventure that's totally outdoors. I don't have to ask what she would like: yesterday, on her second day on skates, she caught the skating bug.

And so we return to the rink in her neighborhood park.

Sure, the ice isn't brilliantly clear or perfectly smooth, but there are no puddles and it is eminently skateable. And in this sport she is brave and strong and very quickly she ventures out on her own. She has secured her balance on ice.

Again and again and again.

I lure her off with a snack, hot chocolate, and some reading...

 

 

 

... but afterwards, despite the fact that I had taken off our skates, cleaned them and put them away, she wants to skate some more. Back we go!

The sun sets and I am feeling the chill of moving around over a sheet of ice for the better part of the afternoon. 

 

 

 

I take her home.

I have to add here that this isn't only about the little girl skating. I used to skate quite a bit when I was younger. And of course, eventually I stopped. Most older people don't skate much. Somehow the thrill of putting on blades and slipping around on ice dissipates. When I did return to it a few years back for the exercise if nothing else, I crashed and decided that maybe senior skating isn't such a great idea. But since then, I've given a lot of thought to why we limit ourselves as we get older. Not doing sports you once loved seems like a cop out. Perhaps what should change is that I shouldn't skate recklessly (I was a demonic skater: a bit of a show off on ice). Gentle skating is fun and teaching a grandchild to skate is deeply satisfying for many reasons. And you don't show off in front of your grandkid, so a fall is not going to smash your bones to fine powder.

This afternoon as she took her short little steps on the ice and I skated off on my own for a while, I felt I'd gotten my skating legs back again. And at my age, well, that's deeply satisfying.

Hot soup for supper. It just seems fitting after an afternoon on the ice.