... i was wrong when i computed that on the 23rd of february the rays of the rising sun would shine directly onto houston brook falls, but being two months early fazed neither john nor myself ...
COURTESY JOHN MEADER
... john was first to ascend the giant ice mound enveloping the falls ...
... seeing that he'd survived, i followed ...
COURTESY JOHN MEADER
... facing east ... in another two months the sun will rise directly opposite the little notch in the forest ...
... we had to be very careful ... in some places the ice was well over a foot thick, but hidden beneath the snow cover were spots where there wasn't enough to support us ...
... this is the safe ice ...
... first time since my accident that i've felt comfortable getting down like this to find the really cool angles ...
COURTESY JOHN MEADER
... all by itself the ice was beautiful ...
... this ice ridge is evidence of how high the river gets ...
... for sure diamonds are "forever," but they're not any prettier ...
... a tiny patch of moss peeks from beneath a frozen blanket ...
... all around us were most fascinating sculptures ...
... a toothlike grin draps from a huge tree trunk that was cast over the falls ... where john is standing, i asked, "in the summer wouldn't we be perched in midair ten feet or so from the falls" ... "yup, think so" ... neat ...
... i've never let go my child's fascination with icicles ...
... shouldn't the water fall straight ... ??? ... go figure ...
... still in shadow, above us the dawn reached into the forest ...
... john hiked down to further explore the riverbank ...
... ascending from the gorge was a bit of a challenge ...
... still some wanderabouting time, we made a side trip to the wire bridge ...
... like the blue of the water inshore of the reef, i am drawn to the color created as the ice filters out the lower energy end of the light spectrum ...
... reclining across a ice and snow encrusted boulder, with my head only inches from this little field of ice shards i took a few minutes to appreciate a wind-driven crystalline symphony equal to anything composed by the masters ...
... from last fall, a single leaf collects sunlight, reradiates it as heat, and very, very slowly melts its way back to earth ...
... again, no master of abstract impressionism could but hope to equal this ...
... ponder this, it is a virtual statistical certainty that no other piece of ice has ever been, or ever will be, identical to this little frozen display ...
... physics, nuclear structure, molecular chemistry ... so cool ...
... beneath the ice earth patiently awaits spring ...
... evidence of the molecular structure of water ...
... aliens ... ??? ... a running elf ... ??? ... perhaps a giant locust ... ??? ... or—or, what is it that you see ... ??? ...
... to me, a woodpecker ...
... covering a lake that much ice would support the weight of a car ...
"In the depth of winter I finally learned
that there was in me an invincible summer."
ALBERT CAMUS
... what a wonderful day ...