Cold as Ice

Hey, look at this, I made it back twice in one week... yay me!

I am a professional figure skating coach.... have been since the dinosaurus roamed the earth.

Now back then, when the Rexasaurus' and I were skating on thin ice, we expected it to be cold, we were used to wearing 3 pairs of long underwear, snow pants, undershirt, turtle neck, fleece jacket and then a full winter jacket, mittens and toques. After all, that was way before Global Warming, when everyone had to walk 10 miles up hill to and from school in rain, snow, sleet and hail... (something like the motto of postal service).

Anyway, that is another topic for another day.

Back to my train of thought.....even to this day, I do expect the older ice arena's to be chillier than the new ones although, some like the old Maple Leaf Gardens etc... really were nice to skate and coach in. Here in Kingston we have several older arena's, all have quite the chill factor, however, the "M Centre" reminds of the old MLG. The "MC" is old, very old however, one of the best arena's around. I love it. The newer old arena's here are much... much colder....

Well... now, the city decided that it was time to build some new arena's, so they built the "K Rock" Centre (where our OHL team and main entertainment venue is housed), it is a resemblence of the MC and the MLG. Wonderful to work in, no 3 pairs of long underwear required. They also decided that they should build a multiplex... with 4 pads of ice... woo hooo! The long years of tussling over ice time between hockey and figure skating is over. Ya.. ok...(rolling the eyes)

Anyway, I am baffled as to why this beautiful 4 month old complex is so cold. There is no reason, afterall, the KRC was built at the same time and is not sitting at that temperature. However, I would gladly lace up my skates in any of the old arena's at 6:00 a.m. than the complex. I realize that the city now has 11 arena's that for the most part sit empty between 9 and 3 Monday to Friday, however, non use is not an excuse in this day and age.

This morning, we were in the complex and in less than an hour (please note- I am on the ice for 4/5 and 6 hours at a time with small 10 minute resurfacing breaks every once and a while) my toes had lost all feeling, my nose needed a bucket under it and my fingers were stiff from frost bite (even with my puppy dog fleece mittens on). It is only October, what is this building going to be like in January... OMG....

So I have come to the conclusion that, I will need to start spiking my morning timmies with baileys to live through this winter.

If anyone has any other suggestions, please forward them to me....
Signed
Cold as Ice

Thanksgiving

OK... so, I have made it back once again and once again I don't know what to write. I used to be very good at writing and ideas would flow freely from my brain. It was never hard to put words to paper for me, however, recently I have found that my thouhts and my brain are at complete odds with each other.

I always looked at Thanksgiving as a time to reflect on the past summer and to gorge myself on the bounty of my garden. The final day of rest prior to my long winter schedule. The completion of summer. The closing of the pool. The cleaning of the gardens.

Last year Wolf came home from Afghanistan for 2 weeks. It was a celebration of sorts. We did all our usual preparations prior to him returning, however, it was still joyous and we enjoyed doing it together.

This year was different. We found ourselves basking in the lovely temperatures that Southern Ontario was blessed with and not wanting to give into the thoughts of preparing for winter. I layed on the chaise lounge and read a book and Wolf went golfing. We allowed ourselves one more weekend of summer, one more weekend of comparing tans, knowing perfectly well that we would be doing all our winter preparations in the freezing cold.

Today is a rather dull nd dingy day that has made me realize that it is time to prepare for the blanket of winter. It is time to let the summer go, knowing that in a few short months we will be under a blanket of ice and snow. Knowing that it is the time for this part of the world to sleep. Knowing that Wolf will be returning to Afghanistan in a couple of months. Knowing that this could very well be the last weekend to do nothing together for many more months.

So on that bleak note, I guess I should get out of this office and into the yard for winter preparations.
Hopefully, my words will come easier next day that I return.