Sledding Memories
Today I am grateful for the return of some singing birds in the morning and for the earlier sunrises and longer daylight we are noticing.
But that doesn't mean winter is over. In the upper Midwest, March can still pack a lot of winter, so we don't get our hopes up too soon. There are advantages to snow this time of the season though.Temperatures tend to be more bearable and that can entice sledders to come out. Sam and I did a few runs yesterday on a hill we can walk to. It's on the golf course across the street from our house, offering smooth, obstacle-free runs. We discovered that the snow was too deep for a fast ride, but Sam decided that just rolling down the hill was fun too, and I decided that laying there looking at the blue sky was just fine.
A few weeks ago, our local paper carried a story about a toboggan run built in the 1880's down a hill that now is the street that carries you in to our historic downtown area. It was quite the attraction at the time, and sparked memories for me. We had an old toboggan too, but got a new one for Christmas probably when I was 8 or 9. We could fit 6 of us kids on that and enjoyed trying it out on some of the hills we had on our farm. On one hill, if we made it to the creek we knew it had been a good run. My memories are of fun, laughter, fresh air, and if we were lucky some hot lemonade when we got back to the house.
We also had runner sleds that we used. Crazy! They had a wood seat with metal runners. The front end swiveled enough to allow the lead rider to steer with his/her feet. No brakes though. You could fit a couple riders on, maybe three if we were small enough. These sleds could really get some good speed going. When we were sledding at night, you could see sparks fly from the runners.
If conditions were good, we would start up by our garage, head down towards the barn, have to steer around a building that was then "the sheep shed" and make our way towards the creek. There were many near misses and probably many prayers said by our mom that we never knew about. But it was fun, invigorating, and remains a pleasant memory from my younger days.
Our river town is not lacking for hills, so sledders have several options to pick from. What we do lack at times would be sledders. Too many stay indoors in front of screens and the day slips away. Sam is 11 and it wasn't his idea to sled yesterday, it was mine. But we went and both enjoyed ourselves. I want him to have pleasant memories of sledding like I have.
I appreciate the simple pleasure of sledding and what it can bring: family time, fresh air, laughter, exercise, and those new memories.
But that doesn't mean winter is over. In the upper Midwest, March can still pack a lot of winter, so we don't get our hopes up too soon. There are advantages to snow this time of the season though.Temperatures tend to be more bearable and that can entice sledders to come out. Sam and I did a few runs yesterday on a hill we can walk to. It's on the golf course across the street from our house, offering smooth, obstacle-free runs. We discovered that the snow was too deep for a fast ride, but Sam decided that just rolling down the hill was fun too, and I decided that laying there looking at the blue sky was just fine.
A few weeks ago, our local paper carried a story about a toboggan run built in the 1880's down a hill that now is the street that carries you in to our historic downtown area. It was quite the attraction at the time, and sparked memories for me. We had an old toboggan too, but got a new one for Christmas probably when I was 8 or 9. We could fit 6 of us kids on that and enjoyed trying it out on some of the hills we had on our farm. On one hill, if we made it to the creek we knew it had been a good run. My memories are of fun, laughter, fresh air, and if we were lucky some hot lemonade when we got back to the house.
We also had runner sleds that we used. Crazy! They had a wood seat with metal runners. The front end swiveled enough to allow the lead rider to steer with his/her feet. No brakes though. You could fit a couple riders on, maybe three if we were small enough. These sleds could really get some good speed going. When we were sledding at night, you could see sparks fly from the runners.
If conditions were good, we would start up by our garage, head down towards the barn, have to steer around a building that was then "the sheep shed" and make our way towards the creek. There were many near misses and probably many prayers said by our mom that we never knew about. But it was fun, invigorating, and remains a pleasant memory from my younger days.
Our river town is not lacking for hills, so sledders have several options to pick from. What we do lack at times would be sledders. Too many stay indoors in front of screens and the day slips away. Sam is 11 and it wasn't his idea to sled yesterday, it was mine. But we went and both enjoyed ourselves. I want him to have pleasant memories of sledding like I have.
I appreciate the simple pleasure of sledding and what it can bring: family time, fresh air, laughter, exercise, and those new memories.
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