Adapting

The rain from the most recent Hurricane moved out of Highlands overnight, and the morning dawned clear and warm, as if it had sucked all that Caribbean sunshine behind it, a long trail of tropical air.  When I reached Town, it was in the mid-60s, warm enough for a singlet or sleeveless shirt.  By the time I had gone a mile, I was sweating.  On November 12, one day after Veteran's Day.

I thought I would take advantage of  the good conditions and completed two 400-meter intervals, which went pretty well. I saw no other runners out, though, and only one or two walkers, which was surprising as there still seem to be a lot of visitors in Town.  When I rounded the corner by Harris Lake I saw two Town Electric Department bucket trucks, both buckets raised in the air, working in tandem hanging Christmas lights.  That tree is one that has traditionally been lit for years, ever since we moved to Highlands; it used to look beautiful when the frozen lake was filled with ice skaters, but these past few years it has been too warm for it to freeze.  One rare exception was ten years ago, January of 2010, when a friend took this photo of me standing on the lake.  But I did not venture very far from shore.

I recognized the two men from my time working with the Town - Clay and Craig - and I called out to them when I passed by, "It's too early for that!"  Craig laughed and shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, "What can you do?"  But I recognized that this was a good day, after all, to hang lights on that tree, balmy with just a little breeze.

Ice skating now takes place on the much safer (but smaller) ice skating rink, constructed several years ago as part of the Founders Park project.  What is during the summertime a pleasant rock and brick terrace is transformed this time of year into a rink.  Already the sides were up and it looked like it was beginning to freeze.  The frugal ex-Town Treasurer in me couldn't avoid thinking how expensive it would be to freeze the ice on such a warm day as this!

It's not too early for the holidays.  I don't know what they will be like this year for millions of families unable to travel or be with their families at Thanksgiving - only two weeks from today - and Christmas, or what safety protocols will be in place for ice skaters in Highlands.  This rink is a small one and in past winters has been packed with skaters, so I had guessed there will be a capacity limit and perhaps even masks.  Martha told me later that she had read that you could skate only by signing up and making a reservation.  That wasn't the way it was all those years ago on Harris Lake!  But like everything else in our lives right now, we will just have to adapt.