I is for ICE

This is an updated version of I is for ICE that I posted in September, 2009.  Sometimes the creative juices fail, so in this case, I went back to reread some of my old posts and thought this would work.  Hope you enjoy it.

Living in Canada as I do, ice is an expected form of precipitation. However, in this little corner of the country, known locally as Lotusland, we don't get as much of it as in the rest of Canada. Here, one would usually find ice in a cold drink in the form of cubes in any season throughout the year.

It does occasionally get cold enough for ice to form on top of the puddles in the fields. And when we were kids, there were ditches in front of the residential area where I grew up so we'd put on our ice skates and go bumping along, trying to avoid the overhanging bushes or tree branches that got in our way. Also, every Saturday afternoon we would get on the bus to travel into the city of Vancouver to go ice skating at Kerrisdale Arena. Until we got our very own figure skates for Christmas one year, we would rent dirty old ones at the rink. I remember one c-c-c-cold January weekend, we gathered up a bunch of friends and drove out to Fry's Corner (the "real" country) and skated and played a sort of hockey on the farmer's field. (That's me in the middle with my late husband on the right and his best friend on the left.)

Of course, ice hockey is almost our national sport! I say "almost" as it isn't officially our national sport because lacrosse takes that honour. But if you think of Canada, you'll usually think HOCKEY. (Did you happen to notice we all have hockey sticks in the photo above?) My Dad was a great hockey fan and every Saturday at 5:00 pm, we'd hear the familiar tune of "Hockey Night in Canada" playing just before the national anthem(s) were sung and the game began.

When my daughters were young, they were involved in figure skating with my older daughter competing at provincial and national levels for her age category. We have an entire photo album of her skating "career," starting with when she learned how to ice skate at the age of 3 and her Daddy would push her around the ice rink as she held onto a sliding frame. Then as she got older, we'd proudly watch her as she pirouetted, spun, and glided herself to many medals and cups.

My younger daughter was on a precision team both here in BC and when we lived temporarily in Ontario. Again, our hearts burst with pride as we watched her participate in many ice competitions. Her ice skating album is right beside her sister's. By the way, I actually made that red and grey polka-dot skating outfit for her when she was about 3 years old.

Did you hear that southern Alberta got snow already this month and the mountains at Whistler, BC, already have snow on their peaks?  Both these bits of news have never been heard of before! I don't mind the cold weather sometimes, but no one around here (except the skiers) like snow because it's so unusual that the city practically grinds to a halt.

So you see, ice is an important item in my world. When it's hot, we put ice in our drinks and if it's cold enough, some of us will venture out to ice skate or play ice hockey.

Thanks to the imaginative Denise Nesbitt who created ABC Wednesday ice ages ago and to the inimitable Roger, our illustrious administrator.