An ice walk

She loves to play in water--even when it's frozen.

I ought to be tackling that big pile of papers this afternoon and also prepping Monday's classes, doing some committee work, and outlining the next phase of my big writing project, but instead I'm taking Hopeful for a walk in the snow. 

Not a long walk--it's too stinking cold and my walking shoes leak. But the forecast for this weekend calls for single-digit temperatures plus high winds and snow, which is perfect weather for staying inside with a big pile of papers to grade. Today, though, I decided to get out and stomp round in the snow while the sun is still shining. 

Chickadees and juncos and a lone hairy woodpecker flock around the birdfeeders but the woods down by the creek remain silent and still. Ice forms unevenly on the creek, creating constellations of protruding rocks and channels edged by feathery fronds and swooping curves. Occasionally I hear a crack and a splash as another chunk of ice drops off into the water. I love to watch little air bubbles skittering beneath the thin ice, but I suspect that by Sunday the creek will be frozen solid again.

Islands in the stream.

Chickadee-dee-dee!

My ears are cold and my feet are numb and I can't hang out in the ice-world forever, so in I go to get warm and dry and stare some more at that pile of papers.