leaky old boots

and the back yard rink

They came from Canadian Tire. At thirty nine ninety five, they weren’t on sale. Given that I’ve had them now for over sixteen years, I think they were a very good value.

Sure, I’ve had to mend the wool liners. They don’t have much traction and they leak a bit. But I just can’t part with them.

When my daughter was born, we would go for massive walks. She’d be in the SUV stroller - about the only place she’d sleep - and I’d explore every side street and alley way in the east end.

They were a joy to wear in sub zero weather, but really thrived when the snow switched to it’s Satanic shadow state of slurious slush. My biggest joys with those boots came in the slush.

Our house on Coxwell had the best back yard. It was thirty feet wide, a hundred deep and was surrounded by an eight foot fence on all sides. Best of all, it was mostly flat. Mostly.

The year our son was born we had a lot of snow and very cold temperatures. That was the winter where the green boots really had their moment in the s…