Walking on Water

 

Lake Champlain is frozen solid - iced over from Vermont to New York.  The low temperatures and the icy winds conspired to create a solid surface again, the second year in a row.   Yesterday we ventured out - all four of us cautiously testing the icy surface for any sign of give.  The patterns in the ice were full of aesthetic, marbleized, and graphic patterns in tones of black and white.  We swiftly realized the ice was thick, really thick, and had no intention of giving way any time soon.  Our fear thawed and we began to breathe easily and take in the splendor.  Stunning smooth crystal black ice revealed an entirely different world; mussels, rocks, and rippled sand hills stared back at us from the water below.  We could not get enough of this.  We stayed for  hours, looking, walking, searching, photographing, and building small sculptures in homage to the arctic surface.