Freeze Up begins in fits and starts in mid-October. I envision Old Man Winter playing tag with three lively grandchildren - Wind, Water, and Ice. He lets them chase each other back and forth across the lake until he wearies of the game and declares Ice - his favorite grandson- the winner so he can move along to other seasonal tasks.
First, ice forms in the still water below and behind our docks and then extends in the shallows on either side. One night, I awoke to a lovely, evasescent sight. A full October moon was reflected in the inky water, framed by newly formed silver ice floes. As soon as the moon moved, the image vanished.The next day, my husband and I kayaked among the shifting ice. Some stretches were gossamer thin, patched together with visible icy stitches. Others were thick enough, even after only one day's formation, to withstand a paddle's prodding. The windward side of these floes had developed a curb, higher than the shallow center, where gentle breezes blew laminar sheets of water over the surfaces, thickening them, millimeter by millimeter.
