Ducks AND Ice, Episode #4
February 4, 2024
Hello friends! We’ve gone from unseasonably warm to record cold to gray and dreary to unseasonably warm and sunny. We only do extremes this year, nothing “average”. I am amazed to say the ice on the lake is still hanging on. After a cloudy week just above freezing and now a sunny week with temperatures in the 50s and 60s, as of Friday morning the lake was still 90% frozen. Every day I go out expecting it to be melted, but so far only the edges and the marina are open water. I’ve never seen ice hang on like this, which is a reflection of just how thick it actually was!
The extra time has given me a chance to take lots of interesting ice photos from all around the lake, so I have updated my title to “ducks and ice” and intend to show you a mix of both. I’m pretty sure no one will mind.
You’ll recall the hooded mergansers, the stars of our duck extravaganza. Let’s start with the males and the funny ways they use their weird ability to extend their neck along with their namesake hood to establish dominance and woo the ladies.
I think the mallards were a little ticked off at me for paying so much attention to the other ducks. This guy was like, “hey lady, what’s a mallard gotta do to get in on the action?”
I was calculating this week that if I featured a different bird in every post I put out for a year (156 posts), I couldn’t show you all the species of birds I’ve seen each year within my little patch of the world, let alone all the other beauties! Nature is just so generous in the diversity of her offering. The seasons help everything to feel new again each time it comes around. It’s almost as if she wanted to make sure we’d never get bored!
Where there is a congregation of birds, they are bound to attract attention. These two hawks went zipping over, chasing each other. They are a too small to make the ducks nervous, but the starlings and juncos hightailed it out of there.
Circling back to the amazing ice now, here are a few looks a the unique and interesting ways ice shows up:
I’ve been the recipient of some amazing generosity this week, both from human friends and from nature. The concept of generosity has come up in multiple settings as well so I’ve been pondering all the ways we can be generous to others - and to ourselves.
I’d love to hear from you! What are some of the ways you express and receive generosity to yourself and others?
This is also a good time to say thank you to all those who have supported my work both financially and with your comments, shares, and time reading! I am truly grateful for your generosity. I have a wacky goal to find a million people who might support me for even just one month. The dream can become a reality one tiny piece at a time!
May the week ahead be filled with generosity and blessings for all of you.
When others ask me to pray for them, or send them healing energy, I never miss a beat! I'm on it! But being so sick with RSV these past three weeks, I've learned to swallow my independent pride to reach out and ask for prayers and healing energy from others. The almost instantaneous response and real-time results were humbling and amazing! It was as if someone flipped a switch! Everything I profess to believe in came true. So, your comment about being generous to ourselves as well as others really resonated. Generosity in all its forms -- material, emotional, spiritual -- is not just about outflow, but also income, to nourish and sustain us when we are down and in need.
May you continue to receive the generosity and support you deserve, Karen. I enjoy many Substackers, but in truth you are as generous as they get. Your reveling in and revealing of the real world lifts my spirit with every post. Today I am celebrating the ducks and ice of early February with you! Thank you!