I come from a rural area in northwest Ohio where nothing much ever really happens; typical small Midwest farm town. When I came to Columbus (the 14th largest U.S. city by population), I was excited to get away from the openness and the boring atmosphere of the country. To me, something was always going on in the city and there was always something to do. Because I was sort of biased towards where I came from, I overlooked some of the plain beauty of the area. Coming back home for a weekend visit on this abnormally warm day opened my eyes to what I had been overlooking for years
I always thought it was odd that Ohio was considered part of the Midwestern United States, considering how eastern it is. When I saw this view from my backyard I realized that Ohio definitely deserves its Midwest status. Something about the bright red barn with the windmill behind the brown grass and field, all under a perfect blue sky filled with puffy clouds just shouted Midwest to me. If you've ever been to northwest Ohio, you know that barn likely belongs to an old farmer wearing overalls that would love to offer you a cold pop. "Ope! Why don't you come on in and take a seat?" he'd greet you.
The pond in my back yard is the pond in the image above. Here's another, arguably worse angle of it.
While not the most high quality picture, I liked how it showed the white ice close to the edge of the pond as well as the texture of the ice further out. My pond is small compared to others in the area, but its nice to swim in on a hot day or to fish in with some friends. I was surprised when I went out and there was still a fairly thick layer of ice on top. The temperature had been above freezing for a few days at that point and that day it was 50 degrees. Although it was definitely not thick enough to hold my weight, it did withstand a few rocks I pelted at it. Preserved inside the ice I found some leaves.
I really liked how this leaf had kept its orange color from the fall.
I broke off a nice shard with my fist close to the edge where the ice was very thin and thought it looked interestingly pizza shaped.
I loved how the right edge of the shard contrasted the jagged edge where the ice had broken free from the rest of the sheet. The air bubbles and craters in the ice, likely from a recent rain when it wasn't warm enough to melt all the way through seemed to make intricate little caves in the ice, sealed off by another thin layer of frozen water.
This picture was especially interesting to me, as there was a thin layer of liquid water on top of the ice in front of where the picture was taken that reflected the sky very nicely. The focus, however, is on the foreground, where the textured ice appears as if it is boiling, waiting for the spring to come to free it back into its fluid state.
