The Bleak Midwinter and a Walk Around the Pond at Dusk

Our nearly snow-less winter continues.  However, that has not meant that the cold hasn't invaded our fair city (Cambridge, MA).  The Charles River is frozen.  And so is Fresh Pond.

The bleak midwinter without snow is especially bleak.  The cold keeps one from lingering and there is little to see in the snowless, barren landscape.  Hope is hard to find.

Today is the celebration of Martin Luther King, the holiday to honor the vision and hope he brought to the struggle for equal rights and equal recognition.  There was the usual services, inspirational speeches and, this year, a demonstration in Boston.  Time has past, but the hoped for vision is not fully realized.  At times, we're still two nations, not fully understanding each other.  At times, we're still in the bleak midwinter of relations and understanding.

Back in Cambridge at the end of the day, the three of us took a brisk walk around Fresh Pond in the gathering darkness of the dusk of a bleak, but snow-less, mid-winter's day.  It was cold.  But if you keep moving, it was ok.

In the bleak midwinter, hope can be found if you keep moving ahead.

The setting sun casts its orange light on the Ringe Towers trio across the frozen pond.

Dusk in the west beyond the hill of Kingsley Park.

The abandoned track of the Watertown Branch of the once Boston & Maine Railroad passes the west side of the pond.

Little Fresh Pond is frozen over.  In warmer weather, it is a favorite spot for dogs to take a quick swim.

The last light of the day reflects off the ice.

Urban Wilds: The Wilderness Around A Frozen Fresh Pond

Even within the city, one can find wilderness views that evoke a more rural setting than where you are standing. Fresh Pond is in the western extent of Cambridge and part of the water supply system. A hundred years ago, ice was harvested in winter and shipped around the world. Today, the pond itself is fenced off, but its perimeter contains a fringe of urban winderness, a small wild in the midst of the city.

. Below: A gatehose on the shoreline




Below: The only open water in the otherwise frozed solid pond.



Below: Tracks run through it -- a rail line through the woods next to the pond.



Below: red berries add color to the snow covered landscape.



Below: Reeds mark the snow-covered shoreline.



Below: Sun setting peeking through the pondside woodlands.