Unique

1603/2nd January 2024

This morning was more wintry

.

Dee Dee was unimpressed and Willow got inside the firescreen to warm up.

As if they would otherwise be frozen.

The fireplace works much better since the removal of the fake logs.

.

When the fire refused to stay lit, Grant took it to bits to see what was wrong and we were rather startled to find a thick black coating on the glass screen.

The logs had started to disintegrate as if they were actually burning, which is not part of the plan.

We don’t spend time staring at the thing and the cats don’t know the difference, so we decided not to replace the logs and so far we’ve had no more trouble.

The image recalls to mind the feeble gas fire we had in London in the 50’s. You needed to sit on top of it to feel the benefit of that heater.

.

Coming back from Greenwich on Tuesday, we decided to see what’s been going on by the river.

.

We had noticed a small structure go up, put together in two days by the Amish who are very efficient builders.

A totally anonymous construction, presumably for storage.

.

On Tuesday, however, nothing was happening so we parked by the river.

.

The Battenkill meanders west from here to join the Hudson at Schuylerville.

A tree had fallen some time ago across a small tributary.

That day, the the right circumstances came together to create an interesting phenomenon.

.

Dangling from the tree…

.

Ice sculptures.

.

So pretty, bobbing about in the breeze.

.

Ice has always fascinated me!

.

It can never be the same twice.

.

In a controlled environment, you could technically achieve the same ice form, I suppose.

But in the natural world, no two moments are the same. Similar, but never the same.

Moments like this are precious because they are unique.

.

There must once have been a mill here though I could find no reference online.

.

Not about these ruins anyway.

Civil rights activist Susan B Anthony spent her childhood in Greenwich.

It was an important part of the Underground Railroad.

Artist Grandma Moses was born nearby.

.

In comparative terms, it is very recent, but there is a lot of history throughout this area and I often find myself wondering about the people who lived in Cambridge after its founding in 1761.

.

A favourite book series is set largely in these parts.

It is not hard to visualise the characters of Eliot Pattison’s Bone Rattler series here.

.

Harder to imagine is this land before the coming of the settlers, when it was covered in forests.

How awesome.

How many wonderful, unique moments must there have been in any one given day?

4 thoughts on “Unique

  1. I love sitting in front of a fireplace in the Winter (I like it when there are logs in it, but really anything is ok … as long as it’s cozy and warms me up). Oh, and I love your photos of the ice sculptures – nature is amazing!

  2. Those ice formations are wonderful, I have never seen anything like those here. Mind you, it has not yet been cold enough for water to freeze in the open.
    1761 is still history, pretty old by some standards. It was only 191 years before I was born though, so that makes it feel more modern. 🙂
    There are some Roman walls still standing in Norwich that date from 195AD. That’s old!
    Best wishes, Pete.

Leave a Reply