J. and I hit the local road on Monday so I could document some important missing links in my WaterWay project. The vast pond above is "our" river's orgination site. Since it's a pond that's part of another river's watershed I'm not sure of the correct technical name for such inception points.
It's not normal for the ice line to look this way so early in the calendar year. Nevertheless pics say it's happening. While we were there the entire parking lot, and a great deal of the closest ice, filled with vigorous skilled ice sailing people. All-hands staffing level of Emergency and fire department vehicles from all the local towns. Multiple videographers and scads of encouraging well-wishers but zero info to be found about any of it when J. later looked through the local papers and websites.
We moved on to a presumed quieter location. This is a scant mile or two down-water of the pond. A resident of the outer bank not visible in this picture showed us the exact place to stand where you can more or less see the pond's first snaking venture south. It's a strange location - the bridge where I stood to take this picture. Not Robert Johnson's Crossroads level strange but odd and out of whack in a way that makes you want leave a good deal sooner than you thought you would.
[I can now add to my catalog of unwelcome local experiences the aforementioned resident of the outer bank suddenly approaching us as I was photographing an interesting tree anomaly shouting in a tone that managed to embrace an awkwardly misfired attempt at sarcastic humor and slight but deliberately obvious menace:
ARE THOSE HAZARDOUS TREES YOU'RE PHOTOGRAPHING? ARE YOU ENVIRONMENTALISTS?????
With something approaching outward calm I explained I was documenting the river I'm documenting. Along the way I take pictures of interesting trees. I then post them on my blog. He found this COOL and then after he asked again about our environmentalist affiliation - J. told him quite firmly 'we believe in trees' - we began The Extrication Process.
Tree Crowns at the Strange Place
A three-tree survival strategy
Here's the silhouette - it's somewhere between a classic cruciform design study and drunken Mardi Gras tourists two days in.
I just ... love this.
(but am unlikely to go back and discover what sort of trees they Are)
thus we move onward for the sustenance arc of our excursion.
It was fairly windy there by the river but the air had a lift and lilt to it that was unmistakably springlike. On the drive along our way there we'd been talking back and forth about the extra early shift we're both sensing - especially within the rising life-force of the trees. What were we to make of it? We've seen years not quite this dramatically ready to shift seasons when March dumped many feet of snow and April was an icy nightmare with appreciable snow on top of that. So we didn't - and still don't - know, really, what to make of it. We enjoyed the moment. And I took pictures of the pine grace admired in a previous post's comments.
She is large and thriving.
Embrace Pose
Her gestures into the wind ...