I’M JUST CURIOUS: Winter memory

by Debbie Walker

As a child I grew up in Burnham just over a hill from Unity Lake (or Winnecook Lake). There was a camp road just past our driveway. It wasn’t one that got plowed in the winter months, but we would use it to walk down to the lake year-round.

Dad and Uncle Royce enjoyed ice fishing in that area. This memory tonight is one that had Kenneth and David, my cousins and myself going ice fishing with Dad and their father, we were thrilled to go. I believe it may have been the first and only time we went with them.

What a day we had! Uncle Royce had a nice warm fish house. It had a wood burning stove and a hole in the floor for a nice, protected fishing hole. And, oh my, the lunches and the hot cocoa!!

We were more than happy to be with them for the day. We did a little fishing, that was kind of boring if you weren’t catching much. We had sleds (no snowmobiles back then) and our ice skates, and we were prepared with extra mittens that Mom and her mother made all winter.

We were treated to a hot dog lunch cooked by Uncle Royce. They had us strip off a couple of layers of snow clothing to dry out while we ate.

We stayed busy all day and we left there very tired. I had had trouble with tonsils and adenoids, throat, and ear infections all that year.

As we were walking home the wind picked up. Each time the wind blew hard I would lose my breath. Poor Dad, I swear I must have been almost as tall as Dad. Poor Dad, I swear I must have been almost as tall as Dad (maybe it is a slight exaggeration) and yet he managed to carry me nearly the entire trek.

Needless to say, Dad did not take me fishing again. However, he did get me in the doctor’s office that week. It was still in the days of removing tonsils and adenoids and my turn came up quickly.

Uncle Royce had his fish hut for a lot of years. When you saw the hut on the lake you knew winter had arrived. My Dad and Uncle are both gone now but at least we have our memories.

There are more memories such as when Dad was given a pair of skis and he made a sled for him and me. Yes, that was a great sled for us. So down over the hill we went and smacked into a tree. Fortunately, Dad had rolled us off the sled before we hit!

I’m just curious if you discovered once you have a memory, more follow. For questions, contact me at DebbieWalker@townline.org. Thanks for reading and have a great week.