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| wind walks on the ice |
Long Hard Miles to Play
This darn cold wind.It makes staying warm even more difficult. Even though we have a zillion options. We can sit on radiators or cuddle up to wood stoves. Hot rocks are
toasty for fingers and toes. Down parkas, duvets and up-to-your-knees
shovelling work too. And of course all that jumping around and cheering during
the Olympic Games sure helped.
If there was a gold
medal for watching the Olympics, then Canada would have won that one too.
Congrats to Team Jacobs, Team Jones, Women’s and Men’s Hockey for not only
winning medals but also giving us something to get the blood pumping.
Even watching the audience
participation was exciting. Energy from the hoots, hollers and fist pumps of
curling supporters at Sault Ste Marie’s Essar Centre was enough to light up the
city. And the televised clips of the exuberant hockey fans in Vancouver’s
Liberty square, Toronto’s Atrium and Bubba Ray’s Sports Bar in Halifax gave
watchers an extra kick to the game.
Wondering about the
aftermath from all this hoopla, I called Bubba Ray’s and spoke with Woody, the
GM of the Sport’s Bar. When asked about how it’s been, now that the Olympics
are over, Woody laughed. “We have an Olympic hangover,” he said. “We are taking it easy and had two days off
to recoup.”
Woody explained that
for the Sunday morning gold medal Canada/Sweden hockey game his 604 seat restaurant
bar was full to capacity. “Fans with face paint and jerseys were lined up
outside at 4:15 am,” he said. “I opened the doors myself at 5:00 am. We made an
awful lot of breakfasts that morning.”
A dedicated fan, Woody
feels a definite attachment to special sporting moments. “I always remember
where I was when Joe Carter hit his home run and I was here at Bubba Ray’s when
Crosby scored his golden goal,” he said. “There are a few events you always remember.”
Indeed. Millions
witnessed the soul gripping efforts of the athletes. There was magic in every event
and the closing ceremonies overflowed with inspiration. They put gold in my
heart when light wizardry turned the floor into rolling ocean waves with hundreds
of silver clad dancers who resembled fish. And at the very end of the
performance, when a thousand children, each with a branch of blossoms, promised
the arrival of spring, I remembered that this season’s rigid grip of cold
indeed will loosen.
Even though the roots
of our own wild flowers languish under six feet of snow and the biting winds
turn a – 20C day into a -35C one, we can draw up the sweet scents and voices of
spring. I remembered that in January I had the fortune to hear an actual spring
sound. When I first heard the robin I figured I must be daydreaming. It was a
sunny day with a temperature in the -20s C. Successive days of hearing the
familiar song and one afternoon seeing the actual red breast among snowy
branches solidified what I knew to be true. And then our neighbour, Rick
Roussain, called in mid February to say
that he had a flock of at least 30 robins in his yard! The callers of spring
were swooping down to the open water of the Montreal River then returning to
the mountain ash trees for a berry feast. The birds were in their own Olympics
to see who could get to the berries the fastest.
Such brave feathered
friends. They had decided to stay north, had found the stamina to endure the
severe challenges of this extreme winter. And to keep warm? Well, they huddle
together and shiver. Not quite like gathering together and cheering, but
similar. They too know they are in this for the long run. As the announcer said
during the gold medal hockey game as he watched the players pass the puck on
that Olympic sized rink, “These are long hard miles to play in a game like
this.”
Yes, we are in the
midst of a long hard winter, the mythical kind when everyone is tested. But
hang on folks. The days are longer. The light is returning. Soon there will be
a bright March day when the sun’s warmth will begin the melt. We will be able
to loosen coats and abandon hats. We will cheer and rejoice in the fact that we
participated in this special winter, this extreme event to remember, which
should make the return to spring all the sweeter.