It has been a strange winter so far. The mountains are getting snow, yet very little in the valley bottom. The last week has seen temperatures above freezing during the day. Today was sunny and plus 5°. There is ice on Lake Windermere, but open spots here and there. The ice freezes different than when I was a boy. The open spots are in in other locations. It changed when they filled in some of the wetlands for development. It increased the pull of the river exiting the lake.
Columbia and Windermere Lakes are often described, by experts, to be a widening of the river. When I was young I used to try to see where the current was under the surface of the lake. I imagined a time when the lakes were not as wide. If the banks of the lake looked freshly cut within the last thousand years. I’d squint and remove the railway tracks and the few homes along the shore. I would look for schools of fish, under the ice, how they moved, if they were being fed by the years dead insects and animals finally loose on the current. During summer, I would swim the width of the lake feeling where I would get cold from water moving quicker under the hot sun. I would confirm it swimming back.
It is a lot tougher now trying to figure out the current. My father and I used to venture onto the ice, early in winter, when it was safe. We would put up a tree in the places the last of the ice froze, to warn people of thin ice. It was the same spots year after year. My father said there was a spring under the ice in those spots. The tree always looked like an undecorated Christmas tree. The warning was observed, everybody knew.
Now, the lake freezes later. The weak spots are more plentiful. The current doesn’t meander like it used to. I ask myself, why should it be different? The snow is coming. I know that.
Palliser Pass 
the #1 Itinerary
Great post 😁
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underswansea
Thank you. Glad you stopped by.
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Jim R
Good observations and good questions. It is helpful to have some long-term views of how things behave.
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underswansea
Thanks Jim! I don’t think people with a long term or historical view are valued, I think they may, sometimes even, be scorned. In Canada we are told to be ashamed of our history and only the future matters. Don’t get me wrong we have plenty to be ashamed of so in the long run it’s probably a good thing. But I think it is important to look back at what was good and also where we made mistakes. Thanks for stopping by.
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Jim R
I agree.
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mountaincoward
Things are certainly changing – I just hope it gets warmer here! Great observations though as Jim said 🙂
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underswansea
I find it takes time to adapt to the cold and each year it takes me a little longer. Take care.
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mountaincoward
I never adapt to it unfortunately – I just get sick. I get ill every single winter for around a month – just started with this year’s – totally exhausted 😦
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underswansea
PS You will have to let me know how the hip handles the cold.
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mountaincoward
I haven’t noticed any difference hip-wise with the colder weather – and our winter weather is truly damp as well as cold – it’s never dry-cold unfortunately…
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Julie@frogpondfarm
Hey Bob .. interesting to make comparisons to when you were young. Things sure are changing …
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underswansea
Yes things are changing, but it will always be those old lessons we can come back to if things change too much. Always nice to see you have stopped by.
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