This story also happened in the same park as the ice cream story. Every winter, part of a tributary of the river flowing through the park becomes a very large ice-skating rink that stretches from one end of the park to the other. One sunny afternoon, Obah-chan and her husband took their granddaughters, M (8 years old) and E (5 years old), to the skating rink. The granddaughters were thrilled to be there because it was their first time skating at a large outdoor rink. The two of them, after happily putting on their skates, were led by the hand by Obah-chan’s husband to the middle of the river covered in thick ice.

Calgary is near the Rocky Mountains, and winter temperatures are very low (sometimes dropping to around minus 30 degrees Celsius). But that day was warm at about 2 degrees Celsius with no wind at all, making it an ideal day for skating.

Under the deep blue sky, the grandchildren happily followed their grandfather onto the glistening ice, gliding like a duckling chasing their mother. Obah-chan didn't join them but enjoyed the scene as she walked along the riverside promenade along the skating link. When the skating was all done, Obah-chan asked her grandchildren, who were still excited,

"Did you have fun?"

 "Yes. That was a lot of fun!"

The two granddaughters answered in unison. Then,

"Grandma, did you see it?" asked the second granddaughter E.

 "What was I supposed to see?"

"There was a big hill in the middle of the skating rink."

"A big hill?" the grandmother asked again.

As far as she remembered, she never saw a hill at the skating rink.

"Yeah. We went up and down the hill. It was really, really, scary. But it was fun, too"

 M answered.

A little confused with their comments, when they returned home, Obah-chan asked her husband about the hill the granddaughters mentioned. According to him, the place the grandchildren described as "a big hill" was actually a gentle slope with ice only about 5 cm in height at the highest point. However, the grandchildren who weren't used to skating outside, the ice bulge they skated over seemed like a high ski jump slope. So, Obah-chan’s husband humorously told her that both granddaughters were extremely afraid to come down from the slope. So, they took a lot of their time skating down slowly.

Come to think of it, we had the same experiences as a child. We thought the hills we used to play on were very high. but when we visit there now as adults, they were nothing like we remember.  In fact, those hills are as high as our height and not higher.