Nothing better than embracing the cold and getting outside onto the ice!!
Winters in Canada are cold and they are long. If you spend the winter wishing for summer than it’s going to be an even longer winter season for you. The best part of winter is getting out in it and doing anything. Winter offers us a chance to do things we can’t do in summer; skiing, snowshoeing, skating, ice fishing and throwing a snow ball. It allows us to walk across a lake, climb a frozen waterfall and walk on the canyon floor. Cold out? Put on another layer. Really cold out? Put on two. Gone are the days of my youth when I thought a scarf and doing up your coat made you look uncool. Today I’ve got three layers on as I head out the door. I know what I’m going out into!
Not far from me is a skating rink. It’s outdoors and open to the elements and that’s my favorite way to skate. I like skating outside with the trees around me and the sky above. I feel happy with the wind in my face and clean, crisp air filling my lungs. I am often alone at this rink and the only sound is that wonderful noise that my skate makes as it pushes across the ice.
There is something distinctively Canadian about skating outdoors, whether it is on a rink, a lake or a river. No matter if it’s Mother Nature who has made the skating area or the group of local volunteers, skating outdoors is as Canadian as the maple leaf.
As I skated around the rink I won’t lie- I was cold but I kept skating, warmed by the thought that I won’t have this opportunity for much longer because spring is on it’s way. So if you haven’t gotten out yet and experienced winter DO IT!! In another month we will be standing over the slushy rink thinking “Why didn’t I get out more?”
I skate on. I’m not going in until I’m frozen.