Ice. Away. Our colours have Changed.

 It's been a good melt this Spring.  That means that there wasn't too much frost in the ground, under the heavy snow cover, and that the swamps weren't frozen (again, thanks to the heavy snow that acts like insulation). So, despite some close to record snow fall records and the long long cold winter, when the meltdown started, there was room for the water to go. Unlike last year, where solidly frozen swamps and solidly frozen ground simply moved the meltwater at great speed across the land and into the lakes causing serious flooding.


Down at the dock, Brian's "flood state indicator" shows that the water is above summer normal levels, but it is still below the level of the top tier of dock timbers.  Just.

As the white-gray surface gives way to the water, the lakes go black

When we watch the melt in the Bay, placing our bets as to the day the ice will finally go out of Bondi Bay   (I said tomorrow... but it might be today if it rains hard) we watch the colour of the lake change.  In winter, the lakes are white, of course, under their layer of snow. During melt and freeze cycles, the lakes are silver with glare ice that welcomes skaters.  Come Spring, however, the colours start to change.  The white ice starts to tinge with gray as the water works ever closer to the surface.   The ice starts to break apart -- shown beautifully in my friend Jacquie' picture of their place at South Portage, and it begins to move with the wind, piling up along the edges, tinkling like wind chimes where it runs up against itself.   There's no vertical strength left in that ice (although it can still push on the horizontal)  That's when the boats come out.
   Because... well.... because they can.

Dave and Mike grabbed the chance to make like icebreakers in our bay. Those dots in the distance are branches that were set around the fish huts during the winter to act as markers.



It was a fairly narrow rift in the ice flow, but enough to get the boys out into the bay!


It goes fast, ice, when it decides to go...





I took this photo yesterday in the afternoon.  Two ducks were checking out the conditions, and the ice was on the move through the bay.




Yesterday evening, the ice had moved farther offshore -- but there was still some glimmers of 'white' out there.







This morning, the bay was almost clear -- but there remained a lot of ice beyond the Points, toward the Island.

 Now, we don't consider Ice OUT until the entire bay is clear...   and that includes out beyond the Island. When that goes, Haystack Bay is clear.   And again, this morning, it is oh so close...

 Then it rained, just drizzle, but persistent. (Brian called to tell me that I'd left the car outside with the windows down, so it rained enough!)

And at 11.30 this morning the robins and I squelched across the lawn to take another look.  There is a little bit of ice pushed up on the shore by the Port Cunnington Road, but almost none. The rest of Bondi Bay is ICE FREE.  And the big change is out by the Points, where the ice has also just vanished.  The next pictures of our lake, it will be BLUE!

This last picture, I just couldn't resist.  It is not upside down. It is the sun setting, reflected into the lake.