Sometimes stalactites form above the stream
Drip drip dripping in a brief thaw.
Sometimes in a thaw it sinks beneath the water
forming ghostly shapes.
Sometimes we wake up to find that overnight
it has formed a clear sheet
across the stream.
Sometimes it forms crispy crunchy
bits and pieces clinging to stream edges or grasses that
rise above the watery surface.
Sometimes it creates crisp hard lines....
....and geometric shapes.
Sometimes the sun comes out
and reveals interesting warmth beneath the frosty surface.
Someone is watching her ball
it's dangerously close to rolling into the stream.
Often it does!
and as soon as she realizes
no human is going in there to retrieve it
somehow she finds a way to get to it
usually
further down the stream.
If she didn't manage to retrieve it
it would end up a plaything for the beavers
further down our stream.
