Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Farewell, "Winter"

Glancing at a calendar today, I realized that we're still in for another two weeks of winter. Or, you know, "winter," in the case of this year.

A SINGLE snowflake is probably being generous in representing this past season.

(Did I just jinx us - are we about to get hit with some massive Nor'easter and I'm going to have to unearth my Saturn from its icy clutches? Eh, I'm willing to risk it.)

It's coming up on your last chance to embrace some of the wintery elements of our community before spring arrives. And while there's not much snowshoeing or sledding or snowman building to be had, there are a couple of things I did recently that put me in a winter frame of mind. (You know, in a good way. Not in a have-to-break-the-frozen-padlock-off-my-U-Haul-with-a-hammer-so-I-can-move-into-my-new-place sort of way.)

The first is a little venture I like to call Finding Frost. As in:

Robert Frost

Frost, one of the greatest American poets of all time, is currently being featured on the Poetry Posts found in City of Elmira parks. Poetry Posts is a project developed by ARTiculation, a group of three Elmira poets who wanted to make poetry an accessible part of daily life. (Other contributing organizations include the Near Westside Neighborhood Association, ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes, Community Foundation of Elmira, Corning and the Finger Lakes, SCT BOCES and the City of Elmira.) A variety of poets will be featured throughout the year.

Incidentally, in going out to track down some of these Posts, I had no idea there were quite as many parks in Elmira as there are. There are twenty-one parks in the city! Participating parks thus far include Brand, Cypress, Katy Leary, Jim Nelson, Brick Pond, Eldridge, Grove, Pulaski, Riverfront East, Mark Twain Riverfront and Wisner.

Mark Twain Riverfront Park. I spy a Poetry Post on the right.

 Featuring Frost's "Unharvested"

Jim Nelson Park, featuring Frost's "The Last Word of a Bluebird"

Not the only recent visitor, apparently...

 That's one crazy-long slide!

Brand Park, featuring "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"


Since this poem's my personal favorite of the group, I'll share.


Whose woods these are I think I know.   
His house is in the village though;   
He will not see me stopping here   
To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   
To stop without a farmhouse near   
Between the woods and frozen lake   
The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   
To ask if there is some mistake.   
The only other sound’s the sweep   
Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.   
But I have promises to keep,   
And miles to go before I sleep,   
And miles to go before I sleep.

Eldridge Park, featuring "The Road Not Taken"


The Posts are interesting to pause and check out if you're strolling or walking your dog through any of these parks - a nice way to add a lil' dose of literary inspiration to your day.

The other activity I did recently to embrace winter was to make an ice skating attempt at First Arena. The Rec Rink has a few hours set aside for public skate each weekend.

Scary prospect.

One of the first thoughts that entered my mind was that at least I was in close proximity to St. Joe's and Arnot Ogden. Probably because my one and only attempt prior to this was an early childhood one; I vividly recall holding onto the wall and other people, but doing no actual skating on my own.

I mean, I've rollerbladed for years, but who knew how that was going to translate to this?

I was guessing not terribly well.

Turns out, though, that it does, to a decent extent. Balancing on skates was no problem on the floor outside of the rink since I was used to walking on rollerblades. And once on the ice, getting used to the slippery surface just took a few go-rounds. (Like, for example, some laps spent holding on to the wall, not daring to let go of it to pass a four-year-old learning to skate.)

What's good about the Rec Rink, though, I realized as I went along, is there are skaters of all levels and ages, so nobody pays any mind if you're a pro or a beginner or anywhere in between.

And once I finally got up the courage to pass that four-year-old, I knew everything was going to be fine. I haven't learned how to stop (short of grabbing the wall), but I can, indeed, cruise along now, and found that I enjoy it. Plus, it was fun to try something new.


There's still public skate time scheduled for this year; make sure to check out First Arena's Rec Rink calendar online.

And enjoy the dwindling days of "winter" -

First Arena
155 North Main Street, Elmira, NY 14901
(607) 734-7825