Kleiny's hill

"Can we go sledding?"

Wow, I still feel the excitement of that question 60 + years later! For us, it definitely meant parental permission because we had to tug said sleds along a two-lane highway - now that I think of it, a trek made all the more dangerous because of icy, snowy roads - to Kleiny's hill down near the creek. 

It wasn't a particularly long hill, more short and steep, made especially treacherous if you began just a bit higher so that you hit a bump between two trees. The little kids, i.e. me, were supposed to begin below the bump and avoid the tree syndrome, but we all know the reality of that! I truly don't remember any major accidents but real scares once or twice.

The thing is, we were padded to the hilt! Puffy snow-pants with suspenders, jackets, caps, mittens (can you still taste the wadded snow that had to be eaten off them!?!), scarves wound around rosy cheeks that immediately became wet with cold breaths and boots that buckled or pulled on. Mere movement was a chore! - injury not much of a reality!

But still, flying downhill through the gray, snowy afternoons, flakes biting into your cheeks, half of your clothing soggy, on that sled, either on your tummy, guiding with your hands or sitting and guiding with your feet.....power, speed, freedom, ecstasy!

Now, every single aspect of it would give me pause.

But I am not old!