Our winter activities, the outside ones, in Canada, in winter, involve slipping, sliding and if it works out well, gliding along.
On some natural white surface. That means snow or ice. Snow and ice make for amazing playgrounds. And I should add, when it comes to the kids, the play potential of snow is amazing. Especially when the maintenance people have scooped it off somewhere, such as roads, parking areas and made a great big pile of the stuff. Nothing better for climbing, sliding and digging as well as building forts.
This winter in Edmonton, the conditions are ideal for skating. No big thaw to ruin the ice. I think this is actually a sport that works out better in the city than in the country or even the mountains. Ice needs to be maintained for skating. Oh, there are those wonderful moments on ponds and lakes when the ice is clear and you can see the fishes and greenery underneath. However, soon a dump of snow needs to be cleared off. And then in the cold, you can get cracks. In Edmonton, many wonderful skating surfaces are cared for and groomed by city workers. We also have neighbourhood local ice rinks and skilled volunteers look after these, clearing the snow and flooding to repair the surface.
This year has seen me back on my skates. It is always a wobbly start to find my balance. I am a staid (and like my skiing) unadventurous, unambitious skater. The rink I love is the Victoria Oval (as in my painting, sort of…) It is very well maintained as the local speed skating club train there (yes we have had some local Olympic speed skaters). My grandchildren love it because of the mounds of snow all the way around the edge where they can play when they have had enough skating. I love it because there is a very nice pavilion, heated and with washrooms, where I can put on my skates, and from there a railing I can cling onto until I have to wobble-launch myself onto the ice.
For a much-needed break from Pardon my Camino, the whole book thing (trying to spread the word that it is out there), I reached out for one of my Domestika online art courses. It’s all about using gouache paint (a Christmas gift from my daughter) to do urban landscapes. The instructor lives in Barcelona where she is surrounded by interesting buildings and many people. Love Edmonton but in this cold weather, people are in their cars and houses and it is too cold to sit outside in some mythical plaza. However, the Victoria Oval inspired me: double duty: skating and subject for a doodly art! The art course is a double duty too: art instructions are in Spanish, I turn on the subtitles and get the whole meal deal!