Sunday Serenity #375

This is an ongoing series from my Bucket List
of things I desperately want to do before
I loose the rest of my vision

My Bucket List
#14 Ice Skating.  Not just once but regularly--3-6 times a year.

The Skating Pond
by Currier and Ives
1862
Central Park, New York

The 12 inches of snow we got between Thursday and Sunday revived childhood memories of winter activities involving snow and ice.

There were all those times the fire department made a small lake in the mall parking lot across the street from us when the temps were going to be below 32 for several days.  We didn't own ice skates tho.  Mom put bread sacks over our shoes or boots and we 'skated' on them until they were shreds.  

Those started when I was five or six after the asphalt parking lot was laid and ended by the time I was eleven when our winters turned mild and any snow that fell seldom lasted past noon let alone long enough to freeze a shallow lake created by fire hoses.

I've very fond memories of the dozen or so times I got to go ice skating in my tweens and teens.  My parents took us as a family outing to the Portland OR Loyd Center rink several times and our church youth group had events there a few times.  I loved it.  If I could have had easy access (it was a 40 mile trip one way from Longview) it could have easily usurped running's first place position as favorite sporty activity.

I haven't been for decades.  The last time was several years before I got married in 1978.

I'm not sure what getting back on the ice would look like for me now.  Would I and the other skaters be safe with me cut loose on a crowded rink during a public session?  I'll have to give it some thought.  I'd probably need to call some rinks and ask them what their policy is and what they'd recommend for a visually impaired skater.

There are no ice rinks in the Rogue Valley so I'd have to make this something I do while visiting my family in Longview and Portland.  There are no ice rinks in Longview either but there are several in both Portland and Vancouver.

My Bucket List

#1 Hot Air Balloon Ride
#2 Play on a real drum set
#3 Swim with dolphins
#4 Visit Shakespeare & Co. Bookshop in Paris
#5 Visit the Library of Congress
#6 Attend a Performance of Beethoven's Symphony #9 by a top notch Orchestra

#7 Visit Hawaii
#8 Visit Russia 
#9 Learn Russian
#10 Learn Braille

#11 Celebrate Christmas in My Own Home with All the Trappings

#12 Add Petit Point to My Fiber Art Repertoire
#13 Regain the Strength and Stamina to Run Again
(and then find a safe place for running with impaired vision)