A couple of years ago we had a cold spell good enough to freeze the canal for skating, but this time it was so cold, for so long, that thick ice created a river playground. I stopped by the Club to take some pictures and discovered the whole area was swarming with people. There were lots of kids -- including the adult kind. I ran into several Islanders, among them, Joe Hage, who was obviously delighted by the activities. Our ferry landing offered the best place to enter the river, so the crowds naturally were largest nearby.

The word for this past weekend was ice skating. Starting early on Saturday people have been skating on the perfectly smooth ice on the channel between the Island and the mainland.

Are you reading Joe's frequent reports on the Club's web site? If not, give it a try -- this is an easy way to keep current about what's happening around Sycamore Island. The captions for these photos are direct quotes of text extracted from the Caretaker's Log between January 24 and 28.