Cold Walk

After three or four days of rain, fog, and slush, I had to get out today, even with the high temp of 14F and a “feels like” of 2 degrees at two p.m. The roads and sidewalks were clear but the wooded paths and those through fields were icy and slow-going. Still, the bitter cold and treacherous terrain were worth it.

A tree has been recently all but taken down by a woodpecker, beige chips and shards spread out several feet around a tree trunk, in stark contrast to the white snow and ice of the hard January ground (no photo).

A flock of cedar waxwings huddles along tree branches, flying to a new set of branches as I walk past.

Rocks, mosses, and leaves offer colour —

— and the ice formations are so varied and interesting. (I adore the last one.)

A few more ice-scapes —

And the mid-winter sun, faint, barely a yellow tinge, and low at 3 p.m., with a foreground of spruce and beech.

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The ice shivers,
remembers lost winters,
the wail of the lonely sky.