the river again

The last few mornings and evenings we can hear the owls hooting.
We haven't heard them much this winter. And actually when we came to live here in '96, this is where they lived, they would sit in the big trees in front of the house, even on the little balcony in the apartment in the back. Since they have disappeared.
I do feel bad having taken their home.

Today, i went to that river again, to see if the ice is breaking up.
It is a gorgeous windy sunny day, sitting here typing i am all rosy again.

I ski across the meadow to where there is a little trail leading to the river.
Bison! Right where the entrance of the trail is.
Turning back i venture out on the meadow, leaving my snowshoe path. It's not the best. But the water is pulling me.

I always call the meadow; pearls on a string, the necklace being the river.
Today i find the pearls set in diamonds, tiny little openings in the woods. Probably
wet in the summer, an area where it would be hard to travel if it wasn't for snow.
I try to follow the animal tracks, them being a frozen harder than the soft undisturbed snow. For direction i use the sun. Counting on the tracks i make, to find my way back. Because of all the pearls and diamonds dazzling and the string winding it is hard to know which direction one is going.
I do come out by the river! It is still totally frozen here, i ski on it, after a few bents, i start skiing in slush, and soon i see the green water on ice.



Looking the direction of this picture, i actually see that the river is bending so close together, that when i ski back, i just have to cross the high bank, only a few meters wide to come out by that open water. See the first picture.



The river making all these turns, i know that there is a shorter route to go back, but i won't, because i know i be in trouble. I have gotten totally lost following a river like this, wondering why it flows the wrong way. As the flow is still hidden under the ice. Even that would be no indication.