There is no pleasure in winter, without water. Its weirdness and wonder takes my breath away. When I took this picture I was in a hurry to get done with a hike... for I had hardly eaten that day. Exploring a "short cut" along an old disused rail line (America loves to get rid of public transportation, while talking about another goal entirely....) not four blocks from my house, I pushed through some over grown Shagbark Hickories and Beech trees, and looked down at this little frozen still life. Suddenly, I had all the time in the world.
The stream bed had risen during December's unusual level of precipitation. The cold froze the top of the stream, and then the water table, when the snow stopped falling so much, fell. This left small freezing, intermittent flows, which froze in the January evenings. Melting and thawing, melting and thawing... weird, wonderful H20... in the Periodic Table of the Compounds, dear water, you are so very, very out of bounds. And I too, am mostly, you.
How very much I miss this kind of thing in July.
5 comments:
Great photo! I've been seeing some unusual frost rings in the puddles down by Sky Creek here; contaminants? One person said maybe each ring represented a blast at the quarry (there are 3 quarries here). Either way, you get some neat effects when the temperature hovers close to freezing (seems to be well back under it this morning). Thanks for sharing your work, Andy - most enjoyable. Plus, I have never heard of Shagbank Hickories - scenic name.
And a happy frost morning to all, even if it's warm where you are.
Great Photo..H2O beautiful.
Thanks Peter,
Indiana's rivers and steams are heavily polluted by agricultural and industrial runoff... and startling lack of regulation due to our famous conservatism. Even supposedly liberal places like Bloomington, where I live, are actually more socially liberal than the heavily regulatory sort of place like New York State.. are taxes are low... are rivers are dead.
Shagbark Hickories are simply Hickory trees like the ones Andrew Jackson was named after... but their bark is peeling in strips from the trunk. They are lovely... and as a carpenter I can tell you their wood is hard on your: it's tough stuff... which supposedly, I guess is why Jackson was named that.
There are many quarries in Bloomington: we have the most famous limestone by far in the United States: Washington DC, and and many other places are built from our quarrys of clean, white, stone without visible grain. You mention of quarries really surprised me. I live less than a mile from a seventy acre quarry practically in the middle of town. The stream practically runs through the quarry! However... the water runs East... not toward the quarry. None the less... interesting.
Thanks.... and it's below 0 Centigrade, here in Indiana. No BIG deal... but hardly warm.
Thanks Poetic Artist,
I suppose I already made the case, above, that I think its beautiful too!
Nice to see you.
Beautiful photo. Love the interesting textures and the beautiful way the light reflects.
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