I hadn't had a really good chance until today, to take pictures of folks skating on the reflecting pond at the old Nepean City Hall.
There were quite a few people skating when I saw them from across the street, after I came through the park.
A little later on my way home, I spotted the Zamboni trundling down the bike path toward the rink. They keep it in a large garage with other things like lawn mowers and snow blowers behind the city hall and I think it's great that they have a real Zamboni to clean the ice here.
Here, the Zamboni has turned off the main bike path and is waiting near the rink. It was hooked up to something - maybe electricity to charge the battery?
I think the kid in the foreground was waving at his family but it looked for a moment like he was waving at me.
I had put my camera way but when I spotted this little girl lying on the snowbank, I had to capture the moment.
She was just taking a breather but in a minute, she sat up and was good to go skating again. Pretty cute.
I happened to notice, as I walked by the parking lot at the old Nortel building, that it was chock full of snuds. I don't ever recall seeing an empty lot with so many snuds all scattered around. You might want to click on the photo to see it larger and even then, it doesn't capture what I saw with my own eyes - photos rarely do. I had heard them called snuds for years and remember hearing someone call them that on CBC radio, before I knew they had a name. I looked them up at dictionary dot com and the word isn't in there. However it is at Wikipedia (the link is above) and if you scroll way down, it says it is a colloquial term. But even they don't define them properly as the snow and mud that accumulates in the wheel well and on the mud flap. Snuds are what you take pleasure in kicking off your car when it's in the parking lot, as these people obviously had done.
Finally, I noticed how high the snow had been pushed up against this tree in the 'hood. It is way over my head and even if I am short, it is still a lot of snow!
4 comments:
So lovely, Julia!
The roommate and I went ice skating first thing on New Year's Day, at a nearby rink. Ridiculous fun...but I do wish we'd had a lovely outdoor pond like yours!
Ah the romance of ice skating! We all skated as very small children and later, we girls took figure skating lessons. I went on to join the intercollegiate figure skating team at Queen's but only because they had categories including "novice". I actually lettered in sports at college! Now my skates are crumbling on the inside and I can't remember when I skated last - years ago. I should get some plain new ones, the kind that have velcro. Should you ever find yourself in Ottawa in winter, you will love "the world's longest skating rink".
I remember it being Aurther Black on the CBC show called Basic Black who picked up the word SNUD (snow and mud) from one of his listeners.
That's it, BR! Thanks. I knew it was CBC.
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