By chance I took a look outside the studio windows mid-afternoon Sunday and saw this… turquoise ice! In the past I never had my camera ready or I missed the lighting conditions, or worse I ignored it and thought “This will happen again tomorrow!”

As an avid light and weather watcher (is there such a person – well, there is now: Me!) I ran into the house, pulled on my boots, grabbed the camera and phone (just in case I fall through the ice, my optimistic husband suggested!) and made my way to the lake shore. Just humor me for a moment: I year ago on the last weekend of March we hosted the local camera club for a night shot with steel wool action in this same spot.

This year, as the image above shows, the ice has receded from the lake shore already! I was on a mission to get the best shot of the turquoise color. It reminded me of the icebergs I saw in Newfoundland in late May of 2008 – an experience not soon forgotten!

Back to Sunday afternoon: As I navigated the road through the seasonal campground near our home this is what I saw, water seeping between the broken ice, a sure sign that spring run off is in full force.

And then I heard something, I heard running water! Only a few steps away, right through the middle of the access road a fast flowing stream was making its way to the lake shore. Yes, this is a road, but every spring the destructive force of melting snow and ice wreaks havoc and access is temporarily disrupted. But this was not going to stop me, I jumped and waded across the minor obstacle to get closer to the boat launch.

This was the view from the official lake access, the place the boat ramp is installed every summer… icy slush and water. But how did these vehicles make their way on to the ice? March 15th (which was the date on Sunday) marks the date that all fishing shacks have to be off the lake. Walking and driving on (if it is safe) are still permitted to those die-hard fishermen that can’t let a day go by without the thrill of pulling fresh fish from the lake.

Walking over to the community beach area I passed this vibrant splash of color, boats awaiting warmer weather and ice free waters.

Here is the view from the beach just a few moments later. The sandy colored foreground is open water.

This fairly thick ice floe invited me to step on it… only to brake apart instantly to immerse my boots in ankle-deep water! I was still puzzled by how the truck made it on to the ice (maybe he set out early in the morning…?) when I heard a motor revving…

…and water splashing. I turned to my left toward the boat launch and saw a black truck driving through the water and slush at high speed, making his way toward his fishing buddies.

I guess I have no sense of adventure, or maybe I just don’t like swimming in winter? I had seen enough and tried to find a better spot to capture a better image of the turquoise ice my initial reason for venturing outside.

It almost reminds me of a south sea beach, if I didn’t know it is ice on top of the turquoise layer. The sandy color could be the beach… A girl can dream, can’t she?

It won’t be long now before the ice is gone. I look forward to the open water because with it comes spring and summer!

And sunsets like this: When the golden glow of the setting sun in the west illuminates the hills. I caught this just in time last evening – what a glorious way to foreshadow the warmer seasons ahead.

Meanwhile in the studio my sewing machine is working overtime. I painted my last piece of silk dupione on Sunday, enhanced it with some black paint and am now adding stitching as my first step.

Don’t these colors remind you of my “beach” excursion from Sunday? I just saw the connection myself as I uploaded this image.

Hope your week is going well! I will check in again later this week…

 

 

 

17 Mar This entry was published on March 17, 2015 at 2:44 pm. It’s filed under Art, Creativity Update, Design, In the News, Journaling, Landscape photography, Nature photography, Nature's Art, Refocusing Creativity and tagged Buffalo Pound Lake, early spring run off, iceberg colors, last opportunity to go ice fishing, melting ice, new fiber project, new project, Newfoundland icebergs, painted silk, receding ice, Saskatchewan, turquoise ice, warm weather. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.