Making Ice

As I mentioned in a previous post, this time last year the ice was in and here to stay.  The season has been so mild that we are still pretty far away from "ice in".  The lake is cold, though, and ready.  All it takes is a few hours of below zero temperatures for the ice to start forming.  Below is a picture of a calmer area near the shore where you can see thin patches of ice forming on top of the water.  This thin ice moves with the water, wind and currents and if the lake gets too rough, it will dissipate once again.  

Smaller ponds and marshes were frozen this morning.  The photo below is of the marsh below Swords.  Winter is trying to take hold, and may this weekend with snow and colder temperatures in the forecast.  Come Monday, it will all go away again, there are more mild, rainy days on the way.

Just a Little Bit Easier

A few weeks ago we had some lovely snow and I thought it was the beginning of a white Christmas season.  It has however, been raining ever since.  I love snow for Christmas, but I just can't complain about this.  The last two winters were so brutal, so cold and snowy, that I really feel like I can't handle another winter just yet.

It has been raining most days, with temperatures ranging from just above zero to ten degrees Celsius.  One again, I'm not complaining.  I am enjoying this extended fall weather.  It is easier to do things outside, go places and to keep the house warm.

This time last year we had a frozen lake and two feet of snow,  We did experience a thaw right around Christmas, but winter came back with a vengeance in January.

While I have grown to love snow since moving here, and will miss a sparking white Christmas morning, the mystery and loveliness snow adds to Christmas Eve, and all the winter activities that we enjoy so much, if the trade off is an easier winter season...well, I'll take it, but just for this year.

A Beautiful Life

This time of year I continually find what I call filigree leaves. 

They fall from our birches, and are the work of caterpillars munching away high in the branches. I think they are beautiful. 

I love the idea of a creature creating something so lovely just by living out its days. 

If we could all be so lucky. 

Rainy Days

We've had a string of rainy, cool days. I'm missing my mom. Rainy days are hard, and I'm sure snowy days will be harder. 

Time marches on as it always does and mom isn't coming back. That thing that happened isn't a bad dream. I am not immune to tragedy. 

Mom, being the Scot that she was, always loved a misty, rainy day. I do, too - that Scottish blood, you know. But it was always best when I had her here, sharing a book and a deep conversation, a cup of tea or a glass of wine. 

Mom. Where are you. We had such plans for this summer. 

Turning Corners

The weather has definitely turned a corner in the past week. The air is drier, crisper and so are the plants. Potted plants are starting to get overgrown and straggly, waiting for the time I will trim them back, or replace them in early fall.  Some of my ferns and bleeding hearts have given up entirely. 

The sun is rising later and it's just beginning to get light out when I rise at 5:45 most mornings. It puts me in mind of one thing - school. 

School starts in four weeks and that means a couple of things. Henry starts junior kindergarten this year, and I'll be spending another year supply teaching. Unlike what's around the corner of the weather turning, I don't know what's around this particular corner. I have hopes and dreams for both Henry and myself. It's going to be an interesting fall. 

Forty

Today I kayaked up the river joining Maple and Martin lakes.  I crossed two beaver dams, portaged around a waterfall and eventually turned back when I came to a set of small rapids.  My goal had been to make those rapids - which I had seen while snowshoeing through the woods.  Next time, I'll cross them and go farther. 

The Greening

The air is full of just budded, misty green leaves.  

Spring peepers fill the marshy spots with their incessant ringing.

Scents come alive and drift into memories. First loves and lost loves. Places we've left behind.

The smell of my toddler's neck slicked with humid curls. 

The sight of my four-year old's excitement over a newly sprouted plant.

Spring holds all of these things.