As the Florida real estate agents are wont to say about New England over the next few months, “Winter — love it or leave it.” In Providence, you can do both in a single day.

The Thanksgiving week opening of the outdoor skating rink at Bank of America City Center served as the unofficial launch of winter here in the Rhode Island capital. It took city workers nearly a month to get the rink ready, starting with maintenance on the Zamboni,  putting up dasher boards around the perimeter, and then firing up the cooling system that took two full nights to freeze a thick layer of ice over a white-painted cement base.