Digging It

Over the last week or so, they've been dredging out the canal. Apparently, the silt was getting so deep that the island was threatening to turn back into a peninsula!

This, of course, has been deeply fascinating to both Fiona and Aiden — not just one digger, but two! And dump trucks! Almost every time I've gone to drop off or pick up Fiona at school, we'll just stop for a while either on the bridge, or somewhere close to where they're working, and just watch. I would have thought mainly Aiden would be interested, but Fiona has been every bit as entranced. How often do you get to see these things, right on your very own block?

A Foggy Mirror

If/when I ever move (the "if" there is a sign of something deep and disturbing to my former globe-trotting self) one of the things I'm going to miss is my daily commute to work. Five left turns, most of them within view of the lake. It's amazing how much variety there is in those 1.6 miles.

On the first cold snap in fall, I pretty much just assume that I'm going to get to work a little later than usual. The lake billows with clouds, and there's no hope for me but to go back around the block and fetch my camera.

Photos from two separate mornings:

Yes, this is scarcely a hundred feet from my front door. No, it's not Photoshopped. I do wish the bird had flown just a little bit closer, though. Then it would have been perfect.

At first, I wasn't sure what I was seeing as it floated out of the mist. After a minute, it became more obvious. It's hard to imagine a better morning for a nice paddle around the lake.

A long look at the lake

I may as well post this one now. It'll be summer before I finish working on it to my complete satisfaction. (Frustrated perfectionist, that's me!) Anyway, I have no idea what Blogger is going to do to this one, or how much you'll be able to see, but it's worth clicking on the picture to open this one up bigger.

A long view of the lake.

This is a severely downsized version; the original is something like 150MB, and, if printed, would be 10 inches high and about 13 feet long. It's made up of 26 shots. (If you want to see a larger version than what's here, email me.)

A few weeks ago, May was clamoring for a chance to go out walking on the lake, and May, being May, didn't want to go do it alone. So Paul and I went out with her. We walked down our street, to the edge of the island, and, well, kept on walking. The snow was about four or five inches deep on the surface, so Paul and May spent a few minutes kicking aside the white powder so that they could actually stand on the ice itself.

Paul and May, on ice.

While was trying out the panorama/stitch feature on my camera (Click, turn, click, turn, click... I did two of these, and you can see the sun is lower at the end of the sequence than it was at the beginning!) Paul and May got quite a ways out — that's them in the first picture, about two-thirds of the way over.

After I was done, I jogged to catch up with the other two, who were chatting with the only other people out on the lake that evening. It turned out to be a father and son, out spending some time together in the cold. None of us had really had any contact with anyone that did ice fishing, so we stayed and chatted a while. It's a fairly complicated activity, to hear them tell it; I would have thought the fishing would be the easy part, and the main attraction would have been the quiet time out on the ice, away from all the noise of everyday life. Apparently that's a side benefit. (It might expalin why I've never caught much of anything when I've gone fishing, too.)

On the way back in, I noticed that the cheery glow coming from the houses wasn't the result of artificial lighting. It was a reflection of the natural glory of the setting sun.

"Picture window" takes on a whole new meaning.

Wednesday on the Lake

Winona Lake is really more "home" to us than a source of recreation, but Wednesday was an exception. Chad and Janene took us out for what is probably the last ski run of the year, but it was easily the best---Deborah got up for the first time!



OK, she didn't get up for very long---maybe ten seconds---but it was exciting. We borrowed the Volkers' "Big Kahuna" skis, which had the dual advantage of being adjustable enough to fit Deborah's feet, and wide enough to provide enough lift to get me out of the water without feeling like I was trying to lift a truck. They weren't terribly maneuverable, though, so wake-jumping took a lot of concentration. But it was great to be on top of the water for a change!