Photos by S. Auberle

The air is crystalline sharp this afternoon--blades of sunlight piercing the water. Light, blinding light over all. The air is biting. Solstice nears.

Forming ice on the pond has a beautiful, satiny sheen.

Prairie dogs have burrowed deep beside it and the porcupine, fox, coyote, heron, deer and elk who often visit here are nowhere to be found.

At 4:00 p.m. the sun is low. Moon is full this afternoon at 5:45 in Gemini.

Each day open water in the center of the pond shrinks. Ducks are congregating closer and closer together now, laughing their crazy calls at me. I am acquainted with the crows, the geese, the eagle high in the snag on the hill above.

I walked this pond when my mom was dying, when my granddaughter was being born. Emotions run deep for me here.

As I walk today, old and new feelings, unsettled, rise to the surface of my heart, then dive back down--quickly--as the opening recedes, as ice closes over.

I am comforted by wildness...

- mimi