Frozen! Ice Art on a Pond in the Scotia Barrens

My favorite little pond in the Scotia Barrens has a thin layer of surface ice now that the temperatures have fallen again. The ice has formed amazing, intricate patterns, and I couldn't help myself: I walked all around, snapping photos.

I was also tempted to touch it. And so I did. I took my glove off, slid my hand across the top of the ice. Smooth. I broke off and picked up a piece of ice from the edge, slid my hand across the bottom. Smooth as well. Hmm.

I'm not sure where the patterns live. I could see them with my eyes but not feel them with my hand. Perhaps the crystals are somehow frozen in the middle. This is only one of the many wonders of water: how it forms beautiful ice, just like this.

For the curious, perhaps you suspect that all of the ponds in the Scotia Barrens do this. Maybe they do . . . sometimes. But I walked to the second pond, which is more sheltered by trees, a bit further back in. It had the start of ice, but nothing at all like the ice art of pond number one. No, of course not; the first pond is special.

I suspect the fancy ice is a by-product of the first pond's location, which is to say, along a power line on one side. So some of my pond is sheltered but some of it is open to the elements. I suspect that all of this contributes to what I will merely call "very nice ice."  :-)

For the ice photo, here is Bruce Springsteen and crew, with Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.