The winter was mild. Infrequently was the pond covered with either ice or snow. It was early in this season that I became aware of numerous craters on the floor of the pond. They varied in diameter from approximately 14 to 30 inches. At first I was puzzled by them. But, assembling all my knowledge about natural pools (of which there is scarce quantity), I settled with pride and contentment on my conclusion that the origin of these markings in the terrain were the effects of natural springs. My pond was ‘spring fed.’ I’d heard that phrase somewhere in my past and I was comfortable with that characteristic assumption about the pond. I went so far as to decide that this meant my pond was old and it was healthy. With the naivety of a true amateur scientist, I built my conclusion into a visual image of pure cool water seeping up from layers beneath the Earth’s crust, and springing forth with such eager force as to push the surface silt into neat little circles.

With that mystery solved, I had pleasant walks around the pond as often as I could. My theory of what lay beneath the water was only reinforced when ice finally formed. With the commonness of the craters below, black patches, with dark tentacles reaching away from them, littered the frozen surface. With my continued ignorance leading my thoughts, I was sure these were places where the ice was not as well frozen, due to the water’s motion from the springs below.

It would be some months before the real cause of the craters would be explained to me by a reliable source, a fisherman.
(This I will share with you in ‘Craters, Part Two’, a few postings from now.)