Inactivity is not my strong suit.  For someone whose whole being is finely tuned to making the most of each moment, and squeezing in as much physical activity into each day as possible, being housebound for a week is rough.  However, the flu knocked out any false ambitions I might have harbored, and left me too wiped out to even consider moving any distance away from my perch on the window seat.

When recovery at last seemed an option, and I began to perk up a bit, my first foray back into the outdoor world was a trip down to Lake Superior.  Camera in hand, this was to be a mild walk along the shore, not a physically taxing operation.  Honestly, it was all I could handle.  But so worthwhile.

With reports of Lake Superior being over 90% ice covered by then, I was greatly surprised to see that the recent winds had opened up a large expanse of deep blue turbulent water along the shore.  It felt as though Duluth must have laid claim to a large portion of the only open water, by virtue of the shifting winds which can add or remove ice from the watery landscape in an instant.

Evidence of the wind’s handiwork lay on the shore below the A-frame information booth at the edge of town.  There I found thick shards of ice tumbled on shore, piled up in haphazard form as the wind’s inexorable force moved them off the water.  It was like an artist’s rendering of some modern art form, which took on blue hues as the sun shone through it with the water as a backdrop.

Walking was hazardous, with a thin layer of snow masking the icy footing underneath and a frigid wind blew off the lake, straight through me.  My desire for stretching my photography skills and capturing artistic images quickly faded to a lesser goal of at least catching some representation of the beauty around me.  The myriad    settings and nuances of focus would have to wait for a warmer day.  But it didn’t stop me from enjoying the scene.

The most mysterious piece of all was the swirly cone out on the tip of an icy peninsula.  What created the base of the form?  And how did this opaque statue rise up above the icy chunks?  It bore no resemblance to the flat rocky landscape I knew that underlay this setting.

It wasn’t long before my numbing fingers and chilling body drove my reluctant retreat from the scene.  With a final look back to admire the ice, I carefully returned to the car.  I’d had my big adventure for the day.  My spirits rejuvenated by the lake and its ice.  Yes, it was a great escape.