Monthly Archives: January 2022

FOR THE LOVE OF HOCKEY by Peter Nolan Smith

January 30, 2022 – 1:01 pm

My paternal grandfather had a saying about the seasons in Maine. “There are two seasons up here; winter and preparing for winter.” My early childhood contradicted this adage, for my five year-old senses recognized a very short and wet spring followed by a little longer and slightly warmer summer capped by a short and wet […]

By Peter | Posted in 80s, boston, NEW YORK, semi-fiction, Sports | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

BROKEN ICE by Peter Nolan Smith

January 30, 2022 – 8:44 am

Back in the last century the rivers, lakes, and ponds froze solid during the New England winters. Fishing shacks were dragged onto the ice and young boys played hockey in sub-zero temperatures with fires blazing on shore to warm frostbit fingers and toes. Daring teenagers drove across the smooth surfaces and their big Detroit cars […]

By Peter | Posted in 60s, New England | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Damn Les Habitants

January 29, 2022 – 11:38 am

My introduction to French was via the heavy accent of a cartoon skunk, who appeared on TV every Saturday morning during the 1950s. Pepe Le Pew never got the girl. Skunks smelled bad and supposedly the French also never bathed with soap. I knew little else of France. That country lay across the Atlantic Ocean, […]

By Peter | Posted in boston, Sports, youth | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

THE RAT TRICK by Peter Nolan Smith

January 29, 2022 – 9:46 am

Hockey was bred into the blood of many New England boys. Frozen ponds and backyard rinks were our winter playground. My dreams of playing for the Boston Bruins ended with my father giving my older brother and me a lesson in how to skate backwards. We were standing the wind-swept surface of Watchic Pond. My […]

By Peter | Posted in 70s, boston, family, New England, semi-fiction, Sports | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Black Ice

January 29, 2022 – 1:52 am

Last month smug northerners ridiculed the snowbound paralysis of Dallas. ‘Maybe we should airlift Maine drivers down to the South to teach them how to drive in winter conditions,” joked a friend at the 169 Bar in Chinatown.. “My grandfather once said, “There are two seasons in Maine, the season of good sledding and the […]

By Peter | Posted in boston, Driving, New England | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)