Bleak

May 2, 2013, looking north from island

The ice finally began to melt in late April, and as of May 1st we're "stranded" on the island for ice-out. The ice pack in the lake is still thick, but reaching it is the hard part:  you would have to walk out into the water to the edge of the ice, and by the time you got there, you'd have water coming over the tops of your Wellingtons. Taking step onto the ice would be the next obstacle, even if you didn't mind the wet socks: the edge of the ice is soft, and it breaks away when you step on it. So, here we are.

In late April, everything was warm and lovely and heading toward spring, and then May 2nd came. The weather turned cold again, and our "moats" around the island began to lightly freeze. Today, May 3rd, we woke to a temp of 28 F (-2 C). In a few more days, the temperatures will start to rise again into the 60s (15 C). The ice melt has slowed, though, and the ice has changed color, from gray back to white. It's disheartening.

Meanwhile, the bird life keeps things interesting, as usual:  on May Day, twelve wood ducks wandered in and walked around in the front yard. Three were female, and the nine glorious males were far less interested in them than in each others' tail feathers; they yanked each others' tails like boys on a playground. We wonder if it's a family of siblings from last year? A couple of swans flew over yesterday, we had a rare mourning dove visit yesterday (and I silently begged it to stay), and the air is filled with bird sounds -- robins, red-winged blackbirds, geese -- which is incongruous with the icy landscape.

While we wait for the weather to get back to normal, we're working on a project that never gets done when life is full of diversions: Gary is finishing trim work in the living room and kitchen and bathroom, and I'm varnishing it. All of this should be done today, and we'll be ready for a diversion. We'll have to make our own, because we'll be here for quite a while. More on that later.

I didn't buy many groceries for ice-out, as we plan to work out way through our freezer and pantry and finally be forced to eat what's there. The only thing we always run out of is milk, but I have 3 extra gallons in the freezer and plenty of powdered. Other than that, we don't need to visit a grocery store for anything. Since I learned to cook -- finally -- I realize that you don't need all that much to be able to prepare a good meal. With a stash of flour, oil and butter, broth, eggs, various types of protein, and canned tomatoes -- oh, and cheese -- you can make just about anything. Pasta, potatoes, and polenta round it all out. We have carrots and Brussels sprouts to roast, and I froze cauliflower and broccoli, so we're set.

Even with this setback of cold weather, I have to remind myself that two weeks ago today -- April 18 -- it looked like this: