As I write today, the temperatures are getting milder though February was cold, windy, icy and snowy.

On Family Day weekend we went walking on the Huron Natural Park trails with family members. We’d bundled up in our warmest winter gear on a day when the sun was out, but it was still very cold.

Our daughter and son-in-law brought their dogs along. The dogs were eager to run, but were kept in check as we walked the  trail. Many other people had the same idea, but the park is big enough that when we enter the trails, there’s plenty of room to spread out. And we could make way and keep distance when others needed to pass.

In the meadow area of the park, we saw a small ice decoration hanging from a tree branch. I’d seen one of those posted on Facebook recently and marvelled at it. Our granddaughters had seen one too and so the girls began to collect a few fallen items to make one. I thought I’d like to try it too.

The piece of ice twirled on the tree branch, back and forth and around and around. As I wanted to get a picture of it, my husband offered to hold it still so I could get a good one.

There were hilly areas to slide down that my granddaughters and other children found, and slid down over and over again. It’s a beautiful natural park any time of year, albeit the path can be slippery in the melting and freezing of snow and ice, but this day the path was packed snow.

On the climber

After a short rest from the walking, we headed home with our little treasures. In the coming weeks, my husband and I created three of these little ice pieces, with items from nature locked inside.

February

March

We’re nearly at spring, on the calendar, and the ice pieces melt as the sun shines on them. We’ll put this experiment to rest until next winter and wait for spring to arrive, but it’s been fun and has garnered much interest on my Facebook page. An easy thing to do for any age, needing only a place to hang it.

Photos on these blog page are © Carolyn Wilker unless otherwise noted.