by Kathy Ruff 
Winter temperatures came in with the New Year.
Wind and cold changed the environment at the Mauch Chunk Lake. Wispy winds created sporadic waves that ebbed to and flowed from the shoreline. Below-freezing temperatures (28 degrees on this day, my first ‘Artist’s Date’ for 2016) transformed that driven water into icicles on grass, limbs and rocks. Those icicles grow longer and thicker as the waves continue to bombard the shoreline.
We usually notice seasonal changes as spring turns to summer and summer to fall, but we sometimes miss the subtle but consistent change as the cold sets in. Were it a half-dozen degrees warmer, these changes may not have existed. Were it to return to the above-average temperatures we’ve experienced this past year, this view will transform yet once again.
This ice formation created on a puddle on the ground struck me as very unique, as if nature took a sculptor’s tool and gently carved its lines while blowing cold air to freeze the water, like a painter creating a masterpiece.
This view may disappear as hikers walk, animals cross the trail or the sun warms its frail existence.
Like it or not, the reality of the ice formations will change. For now, it is what it is. But circumstances change; weather changes.
The icicles may disappear but new wind, waves and cold undoubtedly could create more.
Isn’t nit nice to see and enjoy the beauty of what is now, knowing changes will eventually come?
