It's been 20 years...

Night skating at Tenny Park

Last night I went ice skating at Tenny Park lagoon.  After about a half hour on thei ice, I approached the ramp that leads up to the warming house, I saw two folks working their way slowly, and carefully, down towards me. I waited at the end of the ramp and as they passed I said; "This ramp is the hardest part." To which the lady replied; "I haven't skated for 20 years." To which I said; "I know the feeling." The man with her was not wearing skates and she was leaning heavily upon him as she stepped onto the ice and awkwardly ventured forth.

Twenty years is about how long the gap was for me as well - maybe 30 years - from the time during my teen years when we lived by a lake and we'd all go skating out into the moonlight or build a bonfire on the ice and skate around it to keep warm - and the time a few years ago when I started coming to Tenny Park during the winter months to keep my legs strong when I could no longer ride bike because of the snow and ice.  I re-discovered the fun of gliding across the ice and the challenge of staying upright on narrow blades of steel.

The ice - after 2 inches of fluffy snow

I did put on skates a couple times during this gap when my kids were growing up and we thought it would be fun to do this together. They didn't think it was all that much fun and pretty soon we found other things to do and ice skating again fell out of favor.

But now the kids are grown and for the past 5 or so years I've strapped on these old skates and joined all the other Madisonians who seem to love the ice. The Madison parks department does a wonderful job of keeping this ice clear of snow and in good shape. They flood this area every few days to level out the cracks and smooth over the gouges left by the pick-up hockey games that regularly spring up in 3 or four areas around this lagoon.