The Lake, the Lake, the Frozen Lake

I don't know why the frozen lake holds such fascination for me. I can stand and watch the ice drift for quite a while before the chilly air makes me move on. Some spots look like frozen white doughnuts and others like freeze-dried underwater plant forms. Last night, the weather changed and became more typical for Cleveland, with rain turning to snow flurries and the temperature dropping down to a high in the 30's this afternoon. The sun came out again today, however, and that makes all the difference.

I guess I left Cleveland so early that I never had the chance to appreciate the magnitude of fresh water right here off the shores, nor did I have a car to make exploring easy. I have been making up for that lack of awareness ever since, and on this particular trip, I am making the most of our proximity to the East 9th Street pier. Each day presents a different aspect, one minute, it's so quiet you can hear the buoys, the next moment, everything is drowned out by a private jet landing at Burke. One day the seagulls cluster on the pier avoiding the cold breezes, on the next, they circle low over the water before landing to drift along on the ice floes.


What a luxury to have the time to notice these little differences. I am so grateful and am consciously savoring this opportunity. That's the one thing I always "sell" about Santa Fe, the notion of taking time, it's so nice to drift a bit...