Ken Crost Digital Fine Art

The Story

 

As January came to a close, we decided to get up early for a February 1st walk to the lake. We thought it might actually become a tradition that each first day of the month would be our way of seeing the changes that took place over the prior thirty days. But as is often the case, the best of intentions somehow get lost.

I originally woke up at around 5:30 but heard the sounds of the wind blowing through the leafless trees and the forecast for the day was for temperatures to be in the lower teens. Perfect excuses to close my eyes and seek refuge from the cold world in another couple of hours of sleep. When we finally woke up for the day, the time had zoomed past my projections to 8:30. So much for getting up early. A leisurely breakfast of pancakes and bacon, and a good English tea pushed our hiking time to around 10:30. 

Although the temperature was very cold, the sun was out, even if it was somewhat obscured by some high clouds. The snow was now up to our knees, which made for slow going to the lake, but we weren’t going to be deterred by a bit of snow. When we arrived at the lake, we noticed that the summer reeds were still visible. In a few months, the ice would be gone, and the reeds would begin their yearly process of growth.

Because of the deep snow, footprints on the ice were replaced by the tracks of snowmobiles. And the bit of sun showing through left a wonderful soft pastel yellow glow on the ice. A few hundred yards out on the lake, a big bull moose stood silently. Was this the same guy we saw before? We will never know.

As we walked back home we talked about the idea of a traditional walk on the first day of the month but decided that we were not that dedicated to see it through. We got back home and jumped into our four wheeled SUV and went to one of the local restaurants for a nice hardy lunch. Now that we were into the second month of the year, we felt the excitement of spring coming.