winter pond – SilverLining

The January thaw seems late this year. Maybe this year’s just been so cold the lateness is a perception I have. Finally, this week, some snow melted while the temperature fluctuated from 42 to 52 degrees Fahrenheit. Visibly, the depth of the snow diminished. Encouraged by the warm air, sun, and reduced amount of snow, I ventured a walk around the pond yesterday. While the paved path has been easy going (since it’s plowed) the far side has been impossible to reach if just trudging along in boots. (Snowshoes would make it accessible and I’m thinking now of maybe buying a pair during the summer when L.L. Bean has a sale so I’m better prepared next year!)

I had attempted a pass along the back path last week and found myself sinking the full length of my legs with nearly every step. I estimated it would take me a couple of days to get fully around at the rate it was taking me to pull my legs from the snow. Sometimes, it was a bootless foot that finally emerged.

But yesterday’s passage proved much easier. About seventy percent of my steps stayed solidly on the surface of the snow. Periodically, and unexpectedly, my foot would sometimes sink to my knees with a step. As long as I kept at a slow pace, no harm was done. But I did fear a sprained or broken ankle as my balance was set off each time this happened and the foot deep in the snow was on uneven terrain. If I fell, I was sure I’d be hurt!

At the pace I was forced to travel I was able to see clearly the myriad debris that covered the snow as it melted. With each layer of dissipating snow, a layer of decomposing stuff is revealed. With the many inches of snow that has melted, there is much debris accumulating over the snow’s surface.

All the vines I photograph and the bittersweet dilemma I’ve posed in this blog is shown in the curly cue above.

As the leaves decay, the intricacies of their structure become clear, as if viewed through a microscope. I love this affect. And in the first photo at the start of this post, the reflecting sunlight passing through the snow enhances the image’s detail. Please click on the image to fully appreciate it. Return to the post with your back arrow.

Like the iceman found some years ago, this bittersweet berry’s shell has remained intact through the crushing layers of snow that have covered it and now melted. This to me is an amazing find. Even if it has fallen recently and just sat upon the upper layer of snow, it is so delicate I can’t imaging that winter wind hasn’t blown it around and damaged it.

The junk above, resting atop the snow, is spring’s coming fertilization! Is there a grand scheme in this or is it random chance? This is what I wonder as I walk around the pond.

There are several times each summer that I’m tempted to go into the pond – literally into the water. And usually, it’s not the heat of the day pushing me in as much as the clear water enticing me. I’ve never mustered the nerve. I think the lingering memory of goose poop and other pond muck floating on the spring surface, as well as the fear of snapping turtles and water snakes, kills the enticement.

I’m not sure how I’ve walked around the pond for nearly five full winters and today, for the first time, I had the urge to walk across it, through snow and on ice. Until today, the winter pond had not enticed me to step out onto it.

The photo above is a portrait of me and my faithful, if erratic, walking companion. This photo is marking the time and place of our arrival at the middle of the pond. The dog’s name is Sprite. He’s an eleven year-old cockerpoo and is still very much like a puppy. I’ve mentioned him before in this blog and a couple of times included his picture. Generally, our walks around the pond are filled with frustrating fits and starts — as I have a fit when he won’t get started again after an instinctive impulse to stop and sniff, which occurs about every four paces.
But today we got a good groove going once we were out on the pond. As you see above, Sprite is blazing the trail. Perhaps that’s the key, to take him where there is precious little to sniff.

Still, he did enough burrowing that his fur was matted with snow by the time we got home nearly an hour after we left the house.

The picture above shows our carefree, wandering fun. We’d stop for a photo, or to, as the photo below shows, dig a little in the snow to see how deep it was and to get a photo of the surface of the ice.

Of course to curious Sprite, my foot clearing the ice was a curious thing, something to investigate, as you see below.

And, it appears that he surmised I’d cleared a perfectly sized place for him to stand.

Other animals cross the pond and leave a more practiced path than Sprite and I.

Once back on shore, it was nice to look back as the long low shadows of winter streaked the snow-covered pond behind the tips of shore scrub.

Below, cattails somehow stay upright through winter winds.

A wide trail of snowshoeing tracks mark the pond where weekend visitors passed through.

I can’t speak for Sprite but I know the new perspective I have on the winter pond will give me fresh thoughts and, I hope, pleasant dreams.

Tag: winter pond

Winter Debris

On the Pond