Sunday, March 15, 2009

The Last Gift of Winter

Ice Flower 2

At one point last week, the swamp took the driveway. As in, we had to put metal guide posts in or we wouldn't have been able to see where it was under the water. Discouraging, to say the least.

Then a neighbor knocked on the door, introduced himself, and told us the whole area had flooded because a snapping turtle had gotten wedged in the drainage pipe. The neighbor had taken a backhoe to the situation and removed the turtle, and we could expect the driveway to drain in a day or so. Which, thankfully, it did.

And look what happened then.

Twice the Ice

A thin skim of ice remained around trees and tufts of weeds when the water was high. The water fell during the day, and a second layer of thin ice formed that night. Again the water fell out from under it. In some places, there were three layers hovering in the air above the water, as if suspended by magic.

As the sun lit them up, one layer would collapse on another with a sound like chiming crystal.

It's been a long, rough winter. But it made a graceful exit.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

A snapping turtle....Hmmm..You were able to see beauty in the ice though

Anonymous said...

How gorgeous.

Anonymous said...

Wow... those photos are fabulously incredible! And, wow, no doubt you were discouraged... that was a lot of water. I'm so glad the solution was much easier than imagined :-)

MyMaracas said...

Rambling, yeah. I haven't seen any yet, but the former owner warned us to look out for snappers in the grass in spring.

Sally and JC, thanks! I'm kinda proud of this one myself.