The lake was fierce today. The wind, mixed with freezing rain, stung our faces as we watched the waves crash onto the ice dunes.
The waves exploded, misting the dunes,
coating them with a new layer of frosted ice. It was beautiful to watch despite the freezing rain.
Even though this was such a great wintery display, we couldn’t help but notice that winter seems to be receding, as was the ice.
This is the beach near our house a few days ago..
and this was the beach yesterday. just one warm day is responsible for this dramatic change.
The same goes for this beach. It looks like the ice is melting!
The gritty brown layers of rocks and sand that mixed in with the water as it froze, are starting to reveal themselves through the melting ice.
As the ice melts it dumps its treasures, the rocks and sand, into neat little piles along the beach.
We are witnessing, in fast forward and a much more diminutive form,
how formations such as moraines, eskers, and drumlins were formed when the glaciers receded some ten thousand years ago.
These piles were not arranged on the beach by people.
Nature’s classroom at its best.
We couldn’t resist collecting some of the rocks, and went home with pockets full of frozen, wet rocks.
You will find out soon what we are going to do with them, so stay tuned.
Wow – what wonderful pictures. Enjoyed your post very much. It is amazing the difference a day can make in Mother Nature. I would loved that icy spray in the face. Wow again. Nice pile of rocks on the beach. Can’t wait to see what you use them for. I love rocks. Ha
The spray was…invigorating and an incentive to walk faster. I love rocks too and can’t stop collecting them!
painful to see up close, but how beautiful
It wasn’t too bad, and yes, beautiful!
The transformation of the water by the beach during winter time and extreme cold is always fascinating and beautiful to watch. And I love collecting unique rocks and pebbles by the beach too – and sea glass! – as they are nice souvenirs from a refreshing walk.
It’s already completely different today after last night’s storm. Love rocks and sea glass and shells. I think I just like finding things 🙂
Hope for spring. We had a big melt here in Jan/Feb with ice everywhere, but winter white is again covering all. Spring on the installment plan is with us once again. Stay well. allan
We had a storm last night and everything is white again. Not for long though! Thanks for stopping by!
Isn’t that amazing! Everything changes so quickly. I’m wonder what you’re going to create with the rocks 🤔
It is amazing! For now, we will just transform them a bit. Not sure yet what to make.
Don’t we just love nature’s classroom. Such a great way of putting it. We are seeing the same here. Temperatures on a roller coaster. Tons of snow and ice one day, rain and melt two days later. Today I can see my entire lawn.
We sure do! And yes, we could see our green-ish lawn until last nights blizzard. Winter is back (but not for long)
Wow that’s crazy! Mother Nature at her best.
Today, everything is white again as if this melting episode never happened 🙂
A great lesson on the effects of weather and geology.
I thought so too! It was amazing to see an example of a process that can take hundreds and thousands of years unfold before our eyes.
Stunning shots. How wonderful to see nature at play. Those rock piles are really something, offering a glimpse into the past. We too had plenty of melt here the day before, then a snowstorm last night. Things change quickly. Soon it will be spring.
Thank you so much! Yeah, the storm hit us too and everything is white again. Spring is just around the corner (but as Tony says, so is Christmas)
Tony makes a good point. 😆
😊
Looks and sounds like a Vaselined face day for sure 😂. I love winter lakefront walks. Your photos are beautiful, and I look forward to seeing what you do with the rocks. I have a huge, extremely heavy bag full of rocks I collected on the shore of Lake Superior. I thought I was going to start making jewelry at the time.
Damn, I forgot about the vaseline! I just can’t stop collecting rocks and beach glass and fossils and shells….Lake Superior has amazing rocks and we are planning a trip there as soon as the weather gets better. Rocks can make beautiful jewelry!
It dipped below 50 in LA last week and I was expecting them to call a “state of emergency!” Beautiful scenes of winter – thanks for sharing!
That’s pretty cold for LA…I can’t wait for it to get to these balmy temps here 🙂 Thanks for coming along!
One of the most poetic, descriptive, eye-catching posts I have read in a million years. That is the good bit. The bad bit is it’s good enough to make me stop trying to write good bits. You had me with “The lake was fierce today”.
Awww, thank you, John! I don’t think you need to worry as you don’t seem to be able to write non-good bits anyway. It looks like my specialty is poetic geology 🙂
That’s a really good descritor.
Haha, thanks again!
Only the nature could show this beauty. Stunning scenes you’ve captured👍✨
Thank you! It was indeed stunning!
Gosh, what a savage beauty: you’d think you’re living in a tundra! Hope it wasn’t too chilly, and that you managed to get back home warm and safely.
You are right, it does look like some arctic tundra. In reality, it’s pretty mild here (for ontario that is) if you are not on the lakeshore. We were two minutes from home, so yes, we were home in no time and changed to dry cloths 🙂
It is pretty amazing at how drastically the landscape changed in just a few days. Your pictures of the icy sand dunes are gorgeous. That’s neat to find all the treasures and formations that were left behind after the ice melted. I’m now curious as to what you’re going to do with all those rocks.
It’s really neat and I am looking forward to see the beach when all of the mountains of ice are gone. Of course one wind storm and the waves will wipe it all away, so hopefully we’ll be able to catch it before that.
those are such impressive photos of the lake. I admire your willingness to be outside on such a day!
Thanks! Hygge attitude helps in this case. It was actually very enjoyable.
I’ve got to use that Hygge attitude when it’s cold out… glad you enjoyed it…
Photos are quite pretty 🙂
Thank you ❤️
Glad I wasn’t with you this time. Just looking at the photos makes me shiver. Ha, ha. Cheers, Muriel
Haha, it wasn’t that bad!
What great pictures! It is very interesting to see that the ice left rocks when it melted.
Thank you! I love those neat, small piles of treasures!