I haven’t posted much recently, although I still have been out appreciating winter! So time to catch up a little bit on remembering what I have found fun and magical in winter weather. The unique conditions which led to something I’d never quite seen the like of, the rime ice I saw near the start of the 2021, was a particularly striking example!

So in this post I just want to share some photos and brief reflections on what I saw in a nature center near where I live, the Heckrodt in Menasha, WI.

My favorite feature of that day’s walk was all the different types of ice I could see. Walking in an arboretum allowed me the opportunity so see how a variety of types of trees were transformed, not just to see how one species looked. This picture gives an overview; below, I will provide close-ups of specific transformations, specific branches as well as looks at the grassland.

The delicacy, the intimacy, is something I enjoyed seeing on a variety of trees. Some look spiky – some furry. Many branches stuck out because they were starkly isolated, but some, like the firs, had more of a melded look. Still quite different from how snow typically piles on top of their branches.

But never before did I remember seeing so much variation in how snow and ice sat on trees! And while the Heckrodt is not a large arboretum, it does have a nice amount of diversity of species for a small arboretum, so it didn’t take much walking to see so much variety.

Often, what stuck out was a spikiness. Slender needles and branches highlighted. Ice extends just a big beyond that, remains sharp, as in pictures below.

Other trees looked striking because of the distinctive ways things hung down. Ice drippings, ice coating things that normally hang.

These are some of the winter pleasures which are so ephemeral – much of what I saw here was largely gone within a day, indeed even within hours. (Those who get up earlier than I do likely saw even more magic!)

And then the grasses; ice has a small enough footprint, yet is also weighty enough, that it could redecorate the grasslands section of the Heckrodt, too!

Keep thinking of the places to look. I cherish the photos from National Forests and on mountains. But all these pictures were taken within just a 91 acre wetland – and most in just a small proportion of that. There’s a highway running along the border of it. But if you look in the right direction, if you look for these little moments, there is a lot to fin.

This was truly a magical experience for me. Moments like these are rare and brief. So I hope we can take the time to appreciate them when they come. Enjoying winter often means enjoying it on *its* schedule, when we can walk, when we can watch, when we can sled, when we can snowshoe. I hope you are able to make the time to enjoy that!