On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
JanieM
Central Maine is rich in lakes and rivers. Lucky me, I live across the road from a lake that has been the object of my attention since I moved here in 1987. I didn’t note down when the ice started to form that first winter, but after waiting and waiting and waiting, I did record the date when it was finally gone: April 12, 1988, my first spring on this property.
I called it “ice-off,” though I soon learned that people around here call it “ice-out.” Some folks drive the fifteen miles around the lake, which takes about half an hour, again and again until they’re sure all the ice is gone. Sometimes the Augusta paper reports their findings. I’m lazier, and my definition is simpler: when I can’t see any more ice from my house, it’s officially “ice-off.”
Except that even then it’s not really simple. Some years the wind blows a big plate of ice south out of sight, only to blow it back the next day. Some years the ice really does just seem to melt; other years it breaks up into big chunks that float around for days. Sometimes it seems to be gone, only to re-form along the shore overnight, as if November has come again. Sometimes it’s all gone except for a thin strip on the far shore in a spot that never gets any sun. So does that count as ice-off, or not? Only I can say!
For my first twenty-two years here, the ice always disappeared during the month of April, with April 1 the earliest date (2006) and April 28 the latest (2001). Then we had March 23 in 2010 and March 25 in 2012. Since then it’s been back in April. I have never seen any ice on the lake in May.
The first picture in this set is a shot of new ice behind a dam not far from where I live. There are plenty more scattered around in the galleries at www.janiemat.com, from Gallery 4 of which this meditation on winter is adapted. Thanks as always to Steve from Mendocino, whose energy and design skills made the website possible.
New ice behind the Mill Stream dam, swirly from the motion of the stream.
Low-lying swampy spots tend to be extra brilliant in the fall.
Maine has an ample supply of junk shops (a.k.a. “Antiques”). This was a bin of baseball cards in a shop called Liberty Tool, for reasons that would be obvious if you ever went there. It’s across the road from Liberty Graphics, which makes great t-shirts, including for museums and other organizations all over the country.
An ornate stairwell in the Old Post Office and Court House, aka the Olde Federal Building.
The back side of some Water Street buildings.
Black-eyed Susans.
Gone fishin’.
Lakeside Orchard.
p.a.
Nice! I’ve checked out the ‘antiques’ shops and the Kennebec riverfront just down the road from Augusta in Hallowell. Love Slate’s restaurant there.
BretH
You have a great eye for composition, lovely photos. I recall working at an outdoor education school in New Hampshire many many years ago and witnessing the great break-up of ice on Otter Lake in the spring.
The Castle
I think there is a historical record of the ice closing and ice out on Lake Champlain (VT) and Lake Winnipesaukee (NH). I’m glad you’re in keeping with that tradition. They’re more evidence of a changing climate.
Speaking of alternative names, I’ve often called those flowers brown eyed Susans, especially the cultivated ones that have a light center.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Nice. I particularly like the fishing picture with what I assume is the reflections of clouds.
The Fat Kate Middleton
Thanks so much for these photos, Janie. We live in the Midwest, but have visited Mt. Vernon ME many, many times. My sister owns property on Parker Pond; it’s one of our favorite places to spend lazy summer days.
JanieM
@p.a.: Slates is an institution — good food, good company, sometimes good music (at least in the old days; I’m out of touch lately). It’s in a smaller space than it used to be — but it still keeps chugging along.
@BretH, @The Castle: : I have friends in Anchorage, and the break-up is a big deal there, too. I suppose it is everywhere where there’s ice — one thing I didn’t say in the post is that for me, the day of ice-out, especially if it’s sunny, is the day that most feels like a festival in all the year. Sparkle! Blue water! Movement! It’s a joyful feeling, to have lived to see another spring. (Hat tip to Bilbo.)
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The reflection is mostly from this tree, which is behind the little fishing guy, and which I included in my first set of Maine pictures at BJ.
@The Fat Kate Middleton: I’m a transplanted midwesterner — I still go home often to see family, but Maine feels like home now. Parker Pond is lovely — the land trust I belong to has some acreage and trails there.
JanieM
The post wasn’t planned with this in mind, but by a coincidence of the OTR schedule, we’re heading toward open water right now. There’s a thin fringe of open water around the shore, and the stream that comes into the lake from the north has cut a dark passage, always a sign that the ice is in retreat.
The ice wll probably last into April this year, but not by much. We had serious cold spells this winter, but not as much snow as in some years. My son and son-in-law went ice fishing in early February and drilled through two feet — which isn’t, apparently, all that much!
stinger
Love this!
And what a great set of pictures!
WaterGirl
Just a reminder that, after the ones that will go up next week, I only have 2 submissions for On the Road posts. If nothing comes in, I guess we’ll be on hiatus for a bit.
The future of On the Road is up to all of you.
seefleur
@JanieM: De-lurking to wave at you from up north on 95! We moved here over 30 years ago – both of us spent many years in the midwest. I don’t find many reasons to go back there, but then I don’t really go out of my way to look for any! We moved here with a five-year plan – after 5 years we’d go back to WY where our daughters were born. Now our two sons, who were born in Bangor, are in their early 30’s and I won’t be pried out of Maine for any reason. (Small caveat to that declaration; with retirement looking close, maybe a trip to Ecuador…) Your photos are lovely and represent Maine beautifully. (My best friend lives in Readfield, so I might even know where that cedar bog with the lovely color is.) And now back into lurker-mode…
JanieM
@seefleur: Thanks, and I’m glad you think the pictures represent Maine well. Where you have Ecuador, I have Ireland (hopefully coming up!). And I do still have close family in Ohio, so my trips there were pretty regular pre-pandemic.
I was far more plugged in to local networks when my kids were growing up, but I still wouldn’t be surprised if your best friend is someone I know. If you read between the lines of my posts and/or have seen the barn pictures, you could almost surely figure out where I live and stop by if you’re in the area. :-)