Who's woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
It is a lovely winter's night here in Pittston, Maine. The moon is high and full, and the air is crisp and clear. The temperature is a balmy 25 degrees, just perfect for a moonlight ice skate! Now, for you folks reading this in the Southern Hemisphere, I am sure your summer moon is just as lovely, but it's rare when winter conditions are this good up here. So, tonight I couldn't resist lacing up my skates and heading out onto the little river that borders my property.
I know that the river may not be properly frozen as we just had a flood on it last week. However, the field that borders it was flooded out too, and now is coated in three inches of flat, hard ice. I figured if I fell through I should only get my laces wet. So after partaking of a nice warm glass of Gluhwein, I bundled up and laced up. Too bad I didn't smarten up. It took me just a few moments to realize that the lame excuses I made of why I shouldn't do this were in reality perfectly rational and sound reasons for staying inside. An eight year old body-- heck, a twenty-eight year old body does not impact the ice the same way as a forty-eight year old body does. I could give you details, but suffice it to say that it was really all about gravity, and bodies in motion, etc.
So, as I sit here with an ice pack on my right elbow, and my left buttock in a sling, I think I'll pass on any more moonlight ice skating for the time being. Not the Gluhwein, though. I'll keep that coming.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep;
Like the one I just made
To stick to painting as soon as I heal.
.
3 comments:
Are you going to paint your photograph? It would be amazing!
Mike's been talking about going skating soon. All I was thinking of was how I wouldn't want to fall at this age... It's been over 10 years since we had a winter where we could skate on the lake. My body's changed a lot since then.
Hi Susan,
I don't know if I'll paint that photo, I took it a couple of years ago. I skated once last year after an absence of two decades. It was like starting from scratch. Last night it was the air pockets that did me in. I'm still feeling the effects!
Oooh, sorry about that! I went skiing last winter with my daughter's family. I caught an edge and went tumbling heels over head. But gracefully. Nothing broken, but I could have used your sling. And some gluhwein!
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