



–photos by me




–photos by me

the clouds are ablaze
and will soon turn to ashes
in the pale moonlight

–photos by me

When my son and I went down to the lake for some early-morning photography, we couldn’t believe our eyes: there, in the dawn’s early light, it appeared as though some great sea monsters had emerged from the deep in the night. All up and down the shoreline, these scaly leviathans were silhouetted against the saffron sky. It reminded me of a pod of beached whales.
The daylight revealed something almost as strange: the monsters had become huge piles of ice, which form (I later learned) when broken-up ice is driven by high winds to the shoreline; it’s a naturally occurring phenomenon called ice-stacking. So much for sea monsters.
in the dark, we can
only imagine monsters–
at dawn, we see them

–photos by me




–photos by me

it had snowed
once in november,
yet all that
snow would go,
and now here in december–
our second first snow!

–photos by me




–photos by me
Winter may have come late this year, but she’s definitely here today. Brrr. Her order for snow has yet to arrive, but the lakes and rivers are freezing so quickly.

I just wrote a haiku the other day about the river being open so late in the year; today, it looks like milk flowing through honey-colored land. The land of milk and honey?

This looks like the perfect place (in summer) for a swing. The grass here crunches under my feet.

At the marina on Lake of the Woods, the boats are all put away for the winter. If you’ve left yours in the water, it’s too late now.

The Big Lake itself is still mostly open, but it’s freezing fast. It’s hard to believe this will soon be a forty mile ice road to Canada. The wind is so cold, I can only stand here long enough to snap a picture. I take one last look; all is quiet save the lapping of the waves as the sun sets on another day.
–Photos by me




–photos by me

water spirits
rise up from the river
to gather for
a moment in the sun;
water vapor
helps them hold a form
long enough to
dance for everyone

–photos by me




–photos by me