“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” ~Anne Bradstreet
Anyone who had a terrifying experience with ice knows just how dangerous walking or driving on it can be. It can be scary, frustrating, inconvenient and sometimes deadly. The first day we had ice this week, we lost our satellite signal. We opted to have our dish located on the ground instead of on the roof, and I am so glad that we made that decision. I carefully walked outside, bundled up with an ice scraper, to see if there was any buildup obstructing the reception of the signal. With each step I took, the ice ahead of me would reveal vein like fractures that would make you think you would fall through the cracks at a given moment. When I finally reached the dish and started chipping the ice off of it, the next thing that happened nearly freaked me out. When the ice I was chipping away hit the ground, it started bouncing like a bunch of marbles someone spilled on the floor. I never experienced anything like that before. Because it was quiet outside, the sounds of the bouncing ice was too hard to ignore. Needless to say, I got back in the house as quickly as I could.
As we are trying to recover from the arctic blast that has laden the southeast with ice-covered snow, it seems like the ground and streets were turned into an ice rink, and regular objects sitting outside have formed some surprising ice sculptures. I was passing by my window this morning looking at how little the snow on our deck melted and noticed that in certain areas the snow-turned ice almost looked like an optical illusion. I would think that because of a brief melting and refreezing point from yesterday, these cute little attention getters resulted from that. However, these small sculptures literally looked like they were suspended in air and defied gravity.
First, the banister on the deck looked as if snow was still pack on it. But, when I looked closer, it appeared as if it was molded into an arch that mimicked the wave of an ocean. Then I noticed something in a small fountain sitting in one corner of my deck, and I cannot for the life of me, even come up with how this piece of ice formed into what I saw. It appeared that it was actually sculpted where parts of it was almost paper thin and the end section that meandered upward was as if something was flinging water up in the air and it immediately did a freeze frame. In case you are wondering if water was flowing through the fountain at that time, it was not. When the temperatures drop as low as they have been, I unplug the fountain, because the tubes will freeze.
I know that I tend to become fascinated by these natural wonders and I am not scientific by any means. But, I am curious about how this unexplained mystery occurred. I wished I had a camera filming this water metamorphosis, because to believe it, is to see it. Despite the dangers of walking or driving on this ice, to watch the prisms of light glistening throughout the ebb and flow of these natural ice sculptures by the sunlight, is truly a breathtaking sight. The only response that I have for this unexplained phenomenon is that God is truly an Awesome and Masterful artist!
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