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ALL THROUGH THE WINTER months, I rue the fact that cold weather prevents me from enjoying certain activities.  Must I say it, Reader Dear, I'm not speaking here of ice diving or ice hockey?  Nope, there are abundant reasons why I'm not participating in such glorious winter play, but hmm, frigid weather is likely the least of them.  It's First Friday I've been missing!  During December,  New Year celebration, and the dead of winter, the First Friday events are not cancelled; but alas, I'm too warm-blooded to willingly stroll around the city in bone-chilling cold!

Which is precisely why I had such a great time yesterday, during the relatively balmy evening, attending First Friday in the city: Dining with friends, trotting in and out of the shops along the third block of Queen Street, and sampling the chocolates and wine proffered by the shop owners (most of them not quite so generous as all that, but offering free goodies, nonetheless).  Now, Reader Dear, you may not know, remember, or care in the least, but a great many of the shops in this area are stuffed with antique or vintage items.  Perusing the wares for sale is like traveling into previous eras of  time (ahem, my time!)

I knew in advance that this was true, and yet it was very surprising to discover a pair of my very own childhood roller skates!  They were missing the straps that used to hold them on, and I can't be absolutely sure that they were mine.  Aw shucks, I couldn't really even tell if they looked just like mine, but goodness, how they brought back memories of skating in the basement at the old home place.    Which  subsequently led me to the memory of snow-sliding down the backyard hill while standing on water skis*.

Oddly enough, during that era of time, bone-chilling cold was never a problem!

*It's a fact.  My siblings and I invented the sport of snowboarding!

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