Ice Impression: Starry Night

I seized an opportunity for a quick visit to the Arboretum's lily pond on this day, and I found it frozen, but melting at the edges. The ice had trapped bubbles of air within it, and every single one caught the light and reflected it back. Frozen sky water, full of sparkles.

I walked around the lily pond, trying to get the best angle for photos. I also put my fingers in the water, and I found, much to my delight, that the lily pond's ice - frozen into one huge disc - could be pushed, and it would spin slowly. Neat! A giant wheel of ice, at my finger tips.

I took a number of photos of the ice, trying to truly see it. It was a paint-by-number drawing. No, tectonic plates, in motion. In looking closer, I spotted bubbles, rock shapes. More than that: the deep, strong brush strokes of impressionist paintings.

One of my dearest friends looked at this photo and told me what magic she saw in it: a night sky, with stars twinkling brightly in the deep blue darkness . . . Van Gogh's Starry Night.

I know I've used this song several times before, and I share it again here with no apologies: Don McLean, with Vincent (Starry, Starry Night).