Nancy was trudging about on the ice yesterday, contemplating the logistics of creating a skating rink for our Christmas guests. Never as easy as it sounds, the problem this year is that there has been so much snow that the ice beneath it hasn't frozen really well. Snow is wonderful insulating blanket (not as good as as a down comforter on the sofa by the fireplace, but in its own way, really outstanding). The weight of that blanket of snow has pushed the young ice down, forcing water to leak up through it into the snow layer, which creates the nightmare known as slush. If you've ever skied or snowshoed into a layer of slush, you know what we mean. It sticks to everything, freezing around you, soaking into boots, etc. It's not fun.
So Nancy was grumbling, and hoping that the mild spell of weather that is predicted for the beginning of the week would work to her advantage by causing the lakes to 'water up', bringing the slush up to the surface, and then letting the whole thing freeze down hard so we can begin to develop a skating surface.
Our fall-back plan (we always have a fall-back plan!) is the excellent outdoor rink maintained in Dorset, and free to users. It's much more posh than anything we can build on the lake, but we do confess that lake skating has its own charm. Witness the hugely popular Pond Hockey Championships that roll into the area every year, based at Deerhurst Resort.
While that much slush was a bit of a downer for Nancy on her exploratory trek, there is always an up side. That was provided by the gorgeous winter sunset spinning everything into gold.
And by knowing that the ski trails are great, snowshoeing is spectacular, and the toboggan hills are, as Dave says, 'awesome.' We're three out of four... that's not bad, and there's still time for rinks to happen!
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