First day of spring and I am shocked to find I am sad to see winter going this year. But, I am not letting it get away without one last chance to play in the snow. I wanted to ice skate on the town rink this year, but first it was under four feet of snow, then it was destroyed by the weather and people walking on it when it was soft.
I decide to take out my brand new snowshoes and give them a whirl, but I don't want to go out too far away from civilization in case I fall and break a hip or something. I decide the cemetery is probably a good place to go. It's reasonably private yet close enough to the street that few people will see me look like an idiot if I tumble, and I can crawl for help ... if I tumble.
I spend some time circling the stone chapel and shoeing up a hill, around some trees, and back down again. The pond is semi-frozen, and I don't really trust it enough to try skating on it, especially alone. It is a successful but short trip out, maybe forty-five minutes total including putting the snowshoes on and taking them off. The snow is a bit crusted and iced over, but the traction on the snowshoes makes for some great strides. I actually get going pretty fast at one point, and I manage to stay upright.
I'm a New Englander and have been all of my life. I know full-well just because it's late March and the calendar says spring, there still may be snow days ahead of us. As a matter of fact, it snows about three inches a couple of days later as I am on my way to an outdoor lacrosse game, not to mention we still have all of April in front of us. We've had blizzards in April and days in the mid-nineties. Realistically, I can snowshoe one day and sunbathe the next, all outdoors here in the Northeast.
I'd be happy to take my snowshoes out at least once more before the season is over, but I'd be happy not to shovel snow again for a few months, too. Your call, Mother Nature. Like this past winter, I'll take whatever you've got.
