Last Ice

The ice on the lake has mostly melted, so these are probably my last ice photos of this season.

Ice Forms

It is interesting to see the shapes and patterns created as ice forms on the edge of a body of water. Here a little stream trickles into the lake, suspending grains of sand in the ice as it freezes.

Canoeing

At 5:00 this morning the temperature was 35 degrees, and I was concerned for the flat of tomato plants on the deck. By the time we went out in the canoe it was in the upper fifties, and much more June-like.

This part of the lake is a small shallow cove, which contains a few large boulders similar to those found in the woods, thanks to the most recent glacier to pass through the neighborhood. Several of the rocks support dwarf trees or blueberry bushes. The largest of the boulders has split into several sections, and I assume that eventually the winter ice will break them apart into smaller boulders.

Last fall I photographed reflections of the colorful foliage in this area. Reflections of the green spring leaves are interesting as well.

Since the cove is shallow, warm, and fairly stagnant, it is usually filled with blooms of algae. These colonies are filled with air bubbles, and resemble the ice that forms here before the lake gets covered with snow. This morning in the cove we saw large and tiny fish, some sunning turtles, a gigantic snapping turtle lurking on the bottom, and an otter scampering along the shoreline. When it is warm, mosquitoes and deerflies are abundant here as well.

Snow swirls

This morning, after a less than restful night (see previous post), I noticed interesting patterns of snow blown around on the frozen lake. I thought they looked a lot like the patterns of the waves I was photographing last fall, without the color.

Fall color

I thought it would be a good idea to go out in the canoe yesterday morning to take some photographs of the autumn scenery. I didn't expect it to be so windy, with foot high waves, which made it quite a challenge to get where I wanted to go. Once I reached my destination, I found that the canoe kept blowing away from where I wanted to be, so I had to shoot quickly to capture the compositions I wanted. I also found that no matter which direction looked the most scenic, the wind would turn the boat so the bow would appear in the composition. I got some nice images and some good exercise, but next time I think I'll take the kayak.

Canoeing

Dog and I did a little canoeing this morning to check out the foliage situation. It wasn't the best day to paddle a canoe by myself, since it was very windy with foot high waves, but I didn't realize that until we were headed home. I got a good workout, and it was kind of fun blowing around in a circle a couple of times.