The Columnist Manifesto

I love the photos, especially the third one. It's so bitterly cold out though. Did your fingers freeze while you were trying to take the pictures?
 

I am so excited!! Water doesn't freeze in Kentucky. Sure, it gets cold enough to freeze stuff, but not long enough in one stretch to actually freeze over a lake. I walked on the lake for my first time ever last year, and look forward to doing it again.
 

Listening to it unfreeze on a sunny day is cool too. I was up on Lake Superior's shores one such day, cold and tranquil and all that open space, no other noises around except for background animal chatter. The ice "groans" is the best word I could use. The sounds of the water under the solids as they move and adjust. Check it out (but leave those fancy indoors hotels to the honeymooners, fussy tourists, and people over at least 65 :)