Winter fun

Nothing cures the Winter blues like FRESH AIR..so put on somelottawarmthings, grab your skates, skis or a sled and head outside.

Why retreat indoors once the temperatures drop, and the snow falls? Indoctrinated into the polar bear club early in life, I was the kid bundled from head to toe with more layers than the Michelin man, who couldn't wait to get outdoors to play in the fresh snow. My dad knicknamed me Nanuq which means "polar bear" in the Inuit culture.

I always wanted to take "one more run" on the toboggan..even if it meant clambering up the hill one more time.
Did you know the derivation of the word toboggan is from a Micmac word..interesting as hockey is also attributed to the Micmac tribe.. I guess the Micmacs loved the Winter as much as I do.

Have you ever skated outdoors? Skating indoors just doesn't take your breath away like gliding over a bumpy frozen pond. My mom who was a figure skater once told me-I knew I could skate, but the first time I skated with your dad I FLEW over the ice. They were the stereotypic Canadian pair-he was a professional hockey player, she was a champion figure skater. My mom practiced skating after dark to keep her competition "in the dark" about her routines.

Skating was a family activity. Saturdays we'd pack a picnic lunch, and spend the day playing a hybrid game that was like a cross between broomball and hockey in some frozen paradise. Dad would build a fire..I don't think he knew how to make a small fire..along the snowy bank..and when we weren't warming our frozen bodies, we toasted marshmallows or burned hotdogs black.

I live for Winter..it's not a time of hibernation for me.



Each of the items in this treasury remind me of some facet of Winter fun that is part of my Canadian upbringing.