Kerry Is Suddenly Embracing Winter, with a Little Ice Skating Instruction Help from a Fabulous Friend

My pond hockey pal and retired teacher, 'Mr. D,' has perhaps his oldest ever pupil for ice skating instruction this winter, Kerry, and the early returns are promising

For perhaps the very first time in her life Kerry is enthusiastically embracing winter in Maine. I’ve managed to broaden her view of winter here beyond frustrating bouts of arduous snow shoveling, and I like to think that I’m influencing Kerry’s reconsideration by introducing her to a few of the season’s novel recreations. We hike distinctive trails during fresh snowfalls. We’ve snowtubed in New Hampshire. When deeper snow arrives we are excited to go snowshoeing. But principal among our recreation this winter: skating frozen ponds together.

This past Saturday we had a light snowfall much of the day, and Kerry and I decided to take a break from skating and hike the idyllic trails that meander wondrously through the woods at Pineland Farms, in New Gloucester, a short drive from Kerry’s home in Gray. Pineland Farms is 5,000 acres of rural retreat, part working farm, part business campus, and especially large as a recreational oasis. Back in summer, Kerry and I visited Pineland and picked blueberries there.

In winter the farms’ nearly 20 miles of designated trails are especially inviting to cross country skiers and snowshoers. Over the course of about two hours Saturday Kerry and I held mittened hands and maneuvered through the farm’s gorgeously groomed trails, its tall, enveloping pine tree limbs fully shrouded bright white by snow.

We hiked in late afternoon, traversing nearly three miles and finishing up near dusk, and we were stunned at having the entirety of our hike unaccompanied by anyone else, ever, along the way. Our trail offered a perfect balance of manageable ascents and at times dramatic descents; the ascents were mildly challenging and ensured us a hearty workout, while the descents were at times tricky from ice patches hidden under the snow. We held onto one another tightly during the descents. It all added up to a rewarding jaunt in a blissfully secluded, snowglobe setting. Talk about tranquility.

As we wandered about the property Saturday Kerry and I stumbled upon a delightful ice skating rink equipped with lights for nighttime use and pond hockey goals. Kerry was eager to practice new skating learnings from a memorable instruction appointment earlier in the weekend from my friend Jim Donoghue. Jim and I have been playing pond hockey together in a handful of local settings for five years now, and this winter, as I shared my enthusiasm for introducing Kerry to skating, Jim smiled and mentioned his having a notable background with skating instruction.

Jim is a recently retired elementary school teacher, known over the course of his four decades of educational devotion as ‘Mr. D’ by his students, and a good many winters here during his career he also instructed the youths in his charge in skating — always outdoors. And in his retirement he still does. Those are some lucky schoolchildren. How many Maine skaters has Jim molded over the decades, I wondered over the holidays?

Jim is a wonderful skater, and given his background with skating instruction I also wondered: Would he consider helping Kerry? That question went asked and answered swiftly. Jim invited Kerry out to our favorite skating pond last Friday, and it was a tutorial I won’t ever forget.

Under my skating guidance and care early this winter Kerry has, to her credit, migrated from initial death clutches of my skating sweaters to modest independence on our excursions to various ponds. She’s attained basic appreciation for, and command of, her inside blade edges. She can glide with reasonable confidence at a slow, methodical pace, and so long as the ice sheet is in good condition, move about modestly without falling.

This is no small feat for someone with but about a half dozen ventures out in newly acquired boots and blades, and I’m wildly proud of her. Better still: Kerry has developed a sizable enthusiasm for skating. She doesn’t recoil from cold conditions, she genuinely enjoys learning and practicing, she appreciates my primitive instruction and encouragement, and she relishes the beauty of the settings we skate about.

But I also have larger ambitions for Kerry’s skating prowess, and this is where Jim comes in. Because someone has done something reasonably well for a long time doesn’t necessarily mean one can adequately instruct it, and given the challenge that ice skating inherently poses, and given that learning it at 50 is more challenging (and daunting!) than learning it at say 5, I wanted to transition Kerry into expert hands, partly for her safekeeping, partly to ensure proper progress, and mostly to inspire and nurture her nascent love of it.

Jim enthusiastically accepted my request to help Kerry.

“It’s so important for [newbies] to experience success early on,” Jim told me, “and like you I want Kerry to succeed.”

Last Friday morning I drove Kerry to my pond hockey pond to meet Jim for her first private instruction with a pro, and a pal. And my sense of vindication for the idea was immediate. Jim’s pedagogy for skating, particularly with a newbie, was emphatically apparent. He had Kerry lifting her skates up off the ice and make choppy steps in place and forward to instill in her a broadened awareness of and acumen with balance; he pointed to her hands and impressed upon her their role as “stoppers,” ever to be placed out in front of her and leveraged for every fall; falling on skates, even for NHLers, is inevitable, and Jim even taught Kerry how to properly fall.

Jim introduced Kerry to some angle positioning with her skates that guided her to some initial, modest power moves forward. The ice sheet last Friday morning was truly pristine, black and silky smooth, and these conditions allowed Jim to encourage Kerry to etch discernible blade carvings of her skating progress, forward and back, over and over. Evidence of success.

Some 20 minutes into the instruction, stationed out on the ice close enough to snap photos but far enough away to give Kerry a sense of being in appropriately private, personalized instruction, unique from that which she had with me, I found myself watching my beloved move about the ice as she’d never done under my tutelage and care, her smile wide, her confidence growing. Behind my sunglasses my eyes watered with appreciation tears, with love, for Kerry but also for my pal, his patience and encouragement with Kerry unwavering, the swift arriving results quite overwhelming.

Fully 40 minutes after Jim’s instruction Kerry remained out on the pond, practicing, me right beside her, both of us reveling in her palpable progress. I couldn’t exhort her off the ice sheet, even to briefly rest.

I’ve been blessed to enjoy a skating life, and to be spending my twilight years living in a skater’s paradise. This winter I’ve introduced my passion for skating to my girl, and in mid-season of our first skating calendar together, thanks to my friend Jim, Kerry and I can plausibly dream of winters ahead shared out together on bucolic, soul-stirring pond ice. Every skater of ice outdoors smiles all winter long.