Wintertime fun.

Recently I had a conversation with one of the executives of the Chicago Blackhawks; his daughter is on my daughter’s soccer team, and ironically he lives 2 doors down from some good friend’s of ours. That’s my 15 minutes of fame, hope you enjoyed it.

Actually, that has nothing to do with today’s “Snap. Shot.” When we were talking, and I heard he had played professional hockey, I wanted to reassure him he and I had nothing in common in the skills area. I informed him that not only could I not skate backward, but I could not “crosscut.” If you know anything about ice skating, that’s when you put one foot over the other to turn and go in a different direction. It’s really hard to believe I had the guts to play hockey. I really sucked.

Although I did play on a hockey team, I played more “street and pond hockey.” We would live for the days when the pond would freeze over; then we would take our talents to the pond that was located about a mile from our home. Now, there is one thing about St. Louis that’s different from many other cities in the Midwest. There can be days when it is really cold---and the next day or two, it can really warm up. This is not good for ice on a pond.

It must have been in late February or early March when my brother and I were pretty sure the ice was in a condition for us to be able to skate and shoot the puck around. It was cold outside as we trudged along from the car to the pond; back then you didn’t wear your skates when you went to the rink or pond, you carried them and sat down to put them on. My brother could really put his skates on fast and this day was no exception. As I pulled and tugged on the laces, he was up and ready to go well before I had my first one on. He stepped on the ice, gave it a quick once over and proceeded to skate out to the center.

Then it happened. Have you ever heard ice make cracking sounds? It would be a sound you would likely not forget; for me, kind of like the drill at the dentist’s office.

He really didn’t get too far when I knew we were not going to be playing hockey that day. He went right into the pond. My first reaction? I could not stop laughing. He was really cold as he climbed out of the hole that was now water.

This is where it got really funny. What did he catch besides a cold? A fish was in his pants. We still tell this story---it was a memory that would be tough to forget.

The photo above is of our sled. Before we had saucers we had sleds. They really didn’t work well in the deep snow, but when you had an iced over street, and you were ready for some fun, this racer was the one that would get you to the bottom fast. We don’t have these types of sleds in our home any longer---but the one thing we do have are the memories of wintertime fun.

Thanks for stopping by.