HALLOWELL — One of our favorite winter urban myths: Eskimos have over 1,000 words to describe snow.

Here in Maine, we may not have that many, but we do have many different kinds of snow. On Saturday we received snow that is sometimes called "heart attack" snow. It is a wet, heavy cement-like snow which will clog your snowblower. If you have clogged arteries, you'll have a heart attack when shoveling it.

This kind of snow is good for snow sculpture and snowball fights, but that's about it.

On Sunday morning, the temperature dipped below freezing and left an icy glaze atop the wet snow. This made conditions perfect for cross country skiing.

Erin, Max and I went to Jamies Pond in Hallowell. We parked at the Wildlife Management Area lot and skied down to the pond. Snowshoers had broken a trail, but we preferred to cut our own ski track. The going was fast on the icy surface. Sometimes we broke through the crust. But most of the time it was strong enough to hold us up and we glided with minimal effort.

When we reached the pond, the sun was shining and it had warmed to about 30. It was brilliant out on the pond. We zoomed across the frozen surface and reached the big island in the middle in a couple minutes.

I thought about the many kayak sessions I've enjoyed here over the years. I remarked that I was able to ski about twice as fast as I could paddle. Max was thirsty and began licking the snow and looking for holes in the ice along the shoreline from which to quench his thirst.

We skied for an hour. Then it was time to climb back up the hill and head home for lunch. Grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken soup — the perfect way to end a perfect day of skiing.