I do declare!! Good ice at Valley!!

What possessed me to go to Valley this morning?

Did I know somehow that the ice would be good?

How would I have known that?

It's not like I have the past to go on - sure it's been getting better but it's still so touch-and go...

But today, it was quite beautiful.

The hills are mere rises and the valleys just the gentlest of slopes.

The ice was made this morning at 6am. There were several skaters taking lessons in the time period from 6:15-9:15. There were no further ice-cuts for the supposed 9:30 "public". Since the morning ice has returned there is no semblance of a schedule.

Someone said that they were thinking of asking for an ice-cut around 8:15 but decided against it because they might screw it up - interesting to have to think of it this way...

Apparently they were talking about me at 6am - this would have been good ice for figures. For Lisa. Nice of them to think of me when I was still snoozing away in my little bed. Early morning ice and I have not been friends for quite some time... that's why I work part-time!!

I digress. I got on the ice at 9:15 and although the I couldn't quite see my figures, I did some anyway and the ice was nice. Softer than it has been and no hockey or Zamboni ruts. the usual crowd of skaters came in and we played great music.

I can skate again - just stroking is a complete pleasure! And I'm getting bolder doing turns, etc., although I'm still wary of the slopes and rises which tend to be in the areas where many of the turns are done in dance. But oh well. It was a good practice. On good ice.

So where do we go next time? Is there any way of knowing whether it could possibly be this good again? Like on Friday morning?

With gas at over $3.50 a gallon I still have to think carefully about making the 20-mile round trip there in the morning. and of course the $8 versus the free public at LC - which is a 3-mile round trip from my house...

Dilemmas, Dilemmas. Such is the skating world in PDX...