At the beach

There is a unique beauty in the winter beach, as in the winter woods. I love the woods in winter. The deep woods in January is silent and still. It's peaceful and walking there clears the mind. I very much wanted to go see the woods this January, but we were all feeling dragged down and didn't make it.

The beach is another story. The last time we went to the big lake in winter, we were impressed with the thickness of the ice, which reached several feet out into the water. The waves splashed impatiently against it, and I warned the children against walking onto the ice too far, so they wouldn't break through and get soaked. Last Saturday we went to the beach again. The sand was getting squishy as the sun came out and the temperature began to warm up a little bit.


This winter has been unusually cold for an unusually long string of days, and the lake showed it! I have never seen so much ice! Instead of a thick ledge three feet or so into the water, this year's ice reached as far as I could see, all the way out to the horizon! Daughter said she saw a thin blue line at the edge of the sky, but all I saw was ice. We couldn't tell for sure where the water's edge should be, so we walked out till the ice became flat and I told them that was far enough.




The winter woods may be silent and peaceful, but the winter beach is strong and rugged looking. I'm so glad we went.



That is a lot of ice.



The children found a crack in the ice that reminded us of a crevice in a glacier. Only small. You can see a reflection, where water shows, up there on the left... but then there is more ice past that! It's practically endless!


Here is the crevice up close.



This tall chunk of ice was melting in the sun, and little trickles of water were dripping off the side. It reminded me of the mountainside where Frodo and Sam finally found water to drink during their arduous journey. These are not Frodo and Sam though, these are two of my daughters.

This is the daughter who is not Frodo. She rescued my winter beach plans by driving us to the beach after I realized I didn't have a license. ( I dropped it somewhere and have to get a new one.)


The daughter who is not Sam has been waiting since Christmas to fly her new kite and hadn't found a wind strong enough until this day at the beach. She was delighted! After a few minutes, her older brother helped her rewind the string when they had to bring it back in. He's a good brother. We all had a great time.

The beach in winter is a must-see.