Spring Eternal

Have I got you guessing? What on earth has she photographed this time???

In fact, what you are looking at is a tiny spring, located in a teensy little pond next to the cottage that is named for these, Springside.

The water bubbles up constantly, preventing the ice from completely freezing the surface.

This will help you orient to the spring -- that's it, smiling away on the left side, with a smaller one to the right.

These are the magical things you find walking in the woods come early winter, when the snow is just starting to lie 'deep and crisp and even' and everywhere are the tracks of the wild ones.

These are the magical things you don't find if you stay indoors...  This rime frost on the picnic table top -- it's a good reminder that when Jack Frost writes a poem, it has to 'rime'. (ha! pun intended!)





Frost also crafted some interesting patterns on the end of this tree that Brian had to cut off the ski trails. The frost followed the track made by the chain saw, but you'd need to be close to see that.





Speaking of close, I was fascinated by the way the ice had formed along the beech branches.  If you look closely, you'll see a different kind of Spring in this photo -- those buds at the end of the branch, that's the promise that Winter doesn't last forever. Those buds, those are Spring in the making.

These are the beautiful tiny things that you need to pause and look for. Snow on the balsam needles, ice on the buds, frost on the logs, ice beginning to form along the shores.  This is the season when the water begins to stand still, it's a good season -- that very stillness can give you time to let your Soul catch up.