Almost ice out

The first act of the ice-out drama started a couple of weeks ago when a hole or two appeared in the once-completely-frozen surface of the millpond. The hole widened, then contracted with the arrival of still more cold, then widened again with the advent of relative warmth and rain. This push and pull has continued as the ice-free zone in the upper reaches of the pond—the stretch kept permanently open because of the current from the upper waterfall—gradually expanded, and a similar lead by the lower falls reached up to meet it. Sometime during the night, both openings finally met up with one another and ice-out, except for a small, still-frozen area by one edge, was complete. The event wasn't quite as historic as the meeting of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroad tracks at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869—ice-out, after all, happens every year—but I was ready to mark it. A golden spike wouldn't do, so, instead, I took a picture.