Wilson LakeWARNING: This post will make you feel cold. Brew some hot tea and wrap up good before reading. While visiting the lake during the frigid weather my mom and I made time for some road trips. The snowfall where we were was much lighter than the eastern portion of the state where Eve lives so we were able to get out for odd road trip. Our last road trip was to the dam in search of pelicans.
What we found was an alien land, it's edges dripping with ice formations. The chop and splash of Wilson lake had covered everything alongside the Tennessee River. Initial coatings from relentless waves eventually created udders of ice reaching downward toward the steel blue, roiling waters.
When I say "we" I mean me and my camera for mom was all too happy staying inside the car with the heater going. Which is exactly where she needed to be, having had some surgical procedures recently. The goal was to get her out of the house so she could see something besides 4 walls and a television set. Birding expeditions always rock, and the dam is normally the perfect spot. While there we met a gentleman about her age who had seen pelicans AND the recent Operation Migration stop and flyover of Whooping Cranes! Now THAT'S a GOAL for me!
But I digress. While I watched all manner of waterfowl circling and calling in the brisk breeze, diving down into the boiling water to catch dinner I walked closer to the edge and looked down at the shoreline. You are seeing what I saw, or a small portion of it anyway.
The wind chill was fierce and I didn't have gloves on but I stayed until my fingers turned blood red and painful. There was so much beauty in these formations. Nature is the premiere artist and forever optimist. We always hear "take lemons and make lemonade" and that saying applies here as well. Except it could be "take freezing temperatures, strong winds and icy waters and make ice sculptures!" Such beauty is just beyond the edge - we just have to look for it.
