This morning Miss Sadie, the Cowboy and I decided that we were tired of tromping around the same old paths in the snow. After awhile, there is nothing new to see or sniff and that makes us grumpy. Off to the beach then, in the pale dawn, all blue shadows and mist.
It struck me once more that the patterns formed by wind, waves, and the heaving of great sheets of ice are miniature versions of the way the land itself was formed. Geology writ small, if you will.
There are secret caverns. This one has a stalagmite at its heart.
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It’s all in your point of view, isn’t it? If you’re the beetle, you see mountains. If you’re floating above the planet in a spaceship you see clouds of ice. If you’re venturing onto the surface in your spacesuit, mysterious terrain spreads out before you. Depending on your temperament, you see danger or opportunity–or something so intriguing you just can’t help exploring. You see a frozen waterfall or a sign of the great melting that leads to spring.
Of course, if you’re a terrier you don’t see any of that. You just smell stuff. Interesting stuff.
Torch Lake Views 
isathreadsoflife
March 7, 2010
Fantastic pictures of a curious mind 🙂 Beautiful natural sculptures, it looks like you have been walking on another planet. Amazing and interesting to look at or to smell it 😉
Gerry
March 7, 2010
I, um, often find that I am walking on another planet, metaphorically speaking. I hope it’s a metaphor. Oh dear.
uphilldowndale
March 7, 2010
Beware of the yellow snow 😉
Gerry
March 7, 2010
This is Eden Shores. We are not allowed to have yellow snow. Should yellow snow occur, we are required to send it out for a thorough bleaching.
Cindy Lou
March 7, 2010
Crazy wonderful photos today… and I know exatly what you mean about being tired of walking the same old paths of snow right now. There was a small patch of bare ground around a little hummock and you’d have thought my dogs has rediscovered paradise! Melting snow and mud today were fun… really 🙂
Kathy
March 7, 2010
Especially love the ice cavern. And am now wondering what a terrier thinks. 🙂
Gerry
March 7, 2010
Thanks Cindy Lou – we, too, paid an enormous amount of attention to a patch of bare earth on a southeast facing slope, and came home with muddy paws.
Kathy, I cannot speak for all terriers, but this particular terrier thinks that altogether too much is made of spaniels, that there are never enough walks in the average day, and that the neighborhood raccoons bear watching.
Fee
March 8, 2010
I’ve often thought how wonderful a dog’s viewpoint on life is. Every day is a new adventure, every walk a smorgasbord of new smells and excitement. If there is such a thing as reincarnation, I want to come back as a much-loved pet dog.
Gerry
March 8, 2010
I’ve often felt that way, too, particularly when the Disreputable Duo have gotten away with something while I’ve been off laboring away to earn their kibble. But both of them had very hard–even frightening–lives before they found me, so on the whole I think I’d rather come back as Empress of the Universe. A beloved Empress of course.
p.j. grath
March 8, 2010
Miniature geography, as I called it when young, was one of my favorites way to look at the world. A rainstorm created rushing mountain streams and tiny waterfalls, not to mention the erosion of landforms in quick-time.
Gerry
March 8, 2010
I would love to spend an afternoon on the beach with a geologist, making images of miniature landforms and talking about how they demonstrate–or don’t!–what happens in the larger scheme of things. Wouldn’t that be fun, though?
Scott Thomas Photography
March 8, 2010
Sometimes in only takes a different point of view to thing anew and different. Getting in close or down low like the Cowboy yields new wonders out of old.
Gerry
March 8, 2010
You should be very glad that I did not favor you with the Cowboy’s particular perspective. He has a habit of finding dead fish to roll in, even after a long winter. Talk about up close and lowdown.
Anna
March 8, 2010
Gee, talk about sand frozen in time! Definitely frozen and cold looking sand. That first photo looks like ancient Earth. Neat close-ups. 🙂
Gerry
March 8, 2010
See, and all this time you thought I was being metaphorical when I said I was older than dirt!
La Mirada Bob
March 9, 2010
If you are older than dirt, where on earth does that put me?
Gerry
March 9, 2010
Hmm. Very, very clean?
And older yet than I, which makes you very, very old indeed.