semi-solid

We went for a walk in Assiniboine Park yesterday.

As we wandered from the vacant Duck Pond through the wilted and overwintering English Garden, we saw that the pond in the center of the garden was frozen.

The ice had frozen in cakes over the pond and was opaque and translucent by turns, showing captive bubbles and also greenish depths.

The melt provoked by the day's sunshine tempted M and I to try to spin the circle of ice on its concrete lip.

We toed the wet edge then got more ambitious and tried the blazes of colour further in where carp had frozen close to the surface, showing white belly and fin or flashes of yellow and orange skin...

An older man whose older dog skittered on the edges of my peripheral vision approached and tsked at the small bright bodies.

He shook his head when I suggested that the fish (and the English Garden gardeners) had maybe been caught by an early frost.

"Do you think they don't know their city?" he said, then whistled his dog back to his side and trundled off.

I'm not sure if I know my city but I do know that I regretted not having my camera in my jacket pocket.

Between the green dye in the pond water - to make it more 'water-like?' - the abandoned fish and the way the ice alternatively permitted and disallowed seeing, I knew I had a photo.

It was strange to walk away from the image I could see in my mind's eye but I was able to console myself with tea, a cinnamon bun, and the last of the afternoon's sunlight in the Conservatory cafe...