On Frozen Pond

Seven comments on this post so far. Add yours!

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  lastdemoinidaho on December 18 at 2:18 p.m.

  At the age of 10 I thought I couldn’t live without a pair of hockey ice skates. “All the other kids have them”., which of course wasn’t true, since this was about 1943 and most of the families in our neighborhood were still struggling out of the Great Depression, or Dads were in the Army.

  I whined enough ‘til something happened, and Mom and I went to the department store where skates were sold. Don’t recall the price back then, probably 6-10 bucks. Mom was very thrifty and since I was still growing rather fast, she insisted that the skates be at least 2 sizes larger than my current feet. The stupid clerk, who probably had never been on skates, wanted a sale. So he quickly agreed that all we had to do was stuff the toes with cotton and they would work great.

  Ha. What a joke. First trip on the local swamp/lake ice among the bulrushes was a disaster. My poor feet slipped back and forth, side to side, and I barely could stand, let alone skate. I recall trying two or three more times but real skating was impossible.

  Those skates hung around for a decade or two in dusty closets until a move cross-country forced a decision to dump them. Those were the days.

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  Sisyphus on December 18 at 2:32 p.m.

  In Idaho Falls, there were several skating rinks set up around town in the winter by the fire department. We had really fun Charlie Brown times out under the stars. I’ve been a few times since my childhood and really love the excuse to be outside in winter. And much as I hate to blame the equipment, a good fitting pair of skates locking your ankles goes a long way to having a pleasurable time. Like just about anything involving balance, keep your momentum up. You’re still gonna end up on your butt though, so get used to it. A fire and some brandy helps.

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  hmoffsuite on December 18 at 3:57 p.m.

  I learned to skate at about age 4 or 5. My dad was a Canadian. He always said the most important day of his life was when he became a Naturalized American Citizen. Anyway, I grew up on Manito, Cannon Hill and Suicide (lincoln park) and sometimes Wandermere ponds. I lived on those ponds and loved to play hockey. One year, I met Tom Mableson, who became a mentor and coach. Together, we formed the Spokane Americans Youth Hockey program. Now, kids from Spokane go all around the world winning championships for Spokane. I became a pretty good player and when I was about 12 or 13, got to skate with the Detroit Red Wings and Gordie Howe. A fond memory was when I played against Charles Schultz in Snoopy’s arena in Santa Rosa. His nickname was ‘Sparky’. It was like a semi-pro league and everybody understood you didn’t check ‘Sparky’. He was originally from Minnesota and was a pretty good skater, I might add. That is why Snoopy often has a hockey stick. Sparky told me that.

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  Don_Sausser on December 18 at 5:29 p.m.

  I nearly grew up on ice skates in warm So. Cal at Iceland, a rink built in 1939 by inventor of the Zamboni ice resurfacing machine, Frank Zamboni. I ventured into all three types of skating, racing, hockey and figure, including a two week stint with Sonja Hene’s Ice Review show before being fired.

  I still attend an annual gathering of the old rink gang (at least those who are still breathing) each May but gave up my skates several years ago when the legs gave out.

  I still miss it and wish I could be teaching my grandchildren.

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  Cindy_H on December 18 at 6:13 p.m.

  I asked several local civic leaders about their adventures in ice skating. You can read their responses here:
  http://www.passporttogold2010.com/blogs/passport-gold-2010/

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  spokelooneh on December 18 at 11:27 p.m.

  It was a neighborhood rink, I don’t even know how they made it, but I spent most of my time in the warming shack out of the sub-zero cold nursing my bruises from falling on the ice.

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  Escapee on December 19 at 12:12 a.m.

  I never had a ‘feel’ for skates, be it ‘roller’ or ‘ice’; I’ve never had that kind of balance. It galls me to no end when people who can skate make it look so doggone easy. It looks like loads of fun, but doggoned if I can do it, ‘cos I can’t. Crash. People like me need thick ice. Thud.

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