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| Photos by My Father |
Before I was born, my father took these pictures of the pond behind my great-grandmother's house on which I would later spend many, many winter days.
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The Definitive Guide to the Quiet World of Salt Water New England. Photo by Muffy Aldrich
Muffy Aldrich
Editor, The Thing Before Preppy - The Definitive Guide to the Quiet World of Salt Water New England since 2010. Co-founder, Short Sims. From a 12th Generation New Englander.
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Saddens me to think the simple joys of skating on a frozen pond are such a rarity these days ...
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful images! Thank you so very much for all you do for us, all year long.
ReplyDeleteAs a youth, we skated on several frozen ponds in our area (Branford, Guilford & No Branford). It was probably our number one thing to do in January and February when the temps dropped into the freezing zone. That and sled riding.
ReplyDeleteI remember one year distinctly. In the middle of a January cold snap, the town's fire department brought water trucks to our local school and flooded the playing fields. The water froze quickly and dozens of kids and parents were skating atop our summer baseball field. It was glorious.
Aiken
Spending a Christmas holiday at our cottage in the Berkshires of Northwestern Massachusetts the pond in the center of town would freeze and we would go skating. The memory I retain is all the girls wore white figure skates and the boys black hockey skates. Thanks for the memories. . .
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing like skating on a frozen pond. Listen to the wind in the trees and the funny squeaky sound a puck makes as it skitters across the ice. Warm your hands by a shoreside bonfire.
ReplyDeleteBreath in cold clear air. Who needs smelly gums and standing in line to practice foul shots?
Such charming scenes. Growing up, my dad would hose the backyard to create a skating rink and we would also skate at the lake behind our friends house. Nothing like embracing the cold and enjoying the season for what it brings.
ReplyDeleteLove that close up shot with snow spraying off the skate blades. This beautiful scene is something I know exists but have never seen in person. (Made me think of the Bobbsey Twins and also the ice skating scene in The Bishop's Wife.)
ReplyDeleteBobbsey twins love? hysterical. by the seashore?
DeleteGrowing up in Westchester, skating was our primary outdoor activity in the winter. We skated on frozen ponds all over and also at the many rinks around the county. It's literally the only sport I'm better at than my husband - he spent too many years of his youth in Florida.
ReplyDeleteI thought of Holden Caulfield when I looked at these.
ReplyDeleteMy north country village had three skating rinks at one time; the memories of the "rough boys" playing hockey on one while the rest of us played crack the whip on the other, all under the bare bulbs strung on metal lines hanging over the rinks came flooding back while I looked at those glorious pictures. The smells and sounds of us cramming our cold-sweaty bodies into the cocoa shack to get warm on -30 degree F nights; the sound of skate clad feet clomping on wooden floors, boys and girls jostling for a spot on the two or three benches, .05 for hot cocoa with mini marshmallows and then walking home under crisp starry skies while wondering if you would every feel your toes again... Wow, what a childhood.
ReplyDeleteI love the pictures, but also feel a sadness. How have we gone from the purity of the 50s to the world we see before us today ?
ReplyDeletewe skated where we werent supposed to thus making it more exciting. ha
ReplyDeleteI love the shot of the girls laughing. It makes me think of my own daughters and how the joys of childhood are timeless.
ReplyDeleteMHS HOCKEY
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