The Ice Dunes Cometh

The beach in the winter is an otherworldly place. When you stand on the ice dunes and look out to the north you can see this vast ice field stretching forever. It's as if the lake is more vast when it is frozen than when it is in the liquid state. It appears to be more expansive and even though there is much more to be seen on a frozen lake, it still seems to be emptier as well.

In the view looking directly offshore, somebody has walked out on the ice and planted a stick. When I see things like this, a little defiant gesture by the stick to challenge the lake on its own turf, I recall the black monolith of 2001:A Space Odyssey and I understand how it triggered the response in the ape-people. The stick calls out "Contemplate me you damn bloody apes! I'm not from this world and yet I'm here...look on my works ye mighty and despair!" Now, I don't mean to be putting words into the stick's mouth, but I can almost hear him saying that...or perhaps it is just the wind.