Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Walking on Ice

It's now obvious that the lake can be walked on, or I can now walk on water! The status of the ice wasn't discussed, and we didn't give it a second thought before venturing onto the lake. It was clearly different - the landscape was still and solid. The day's high temperature was very low: 21° F, and had been that way for a few days. It's unpleasant outside, if you are unprepared for what your face and fingertips will feel like, but our boardwalk encourages us to get out each day to see what's new at the lake edge.

There were new feathery ice crystals everywhere. When I first saw this one, I thought it was a strange new leaf, upturned on the ice. It stood out beautifully, like a star suspended over the ice-entombed leaves.




The delicate feathery forms could be seen in the animal footprints too




Under the light snow, though, the hard surface of the ice is glassy smooth and slippery




We actually found that our COVID masks had an extra function - to protect our faces from the frigid cold air!