A magical blue

On a walk in the woods behind Elva's and Laurie's house (windchill in the minus 20s, but we kept going) we came across an extraordinary phenomenon, a patch of snow reflecting the blue sky, that looked like water. It was snow in shadow, lying on the surface of a frozen beaver pond. We first saw it from above and couldn't believe our eyes, so I took a couple of photos for proof. The second picture shows how we checked the surface to make sure it was real.

We were so bemused by the experience that after turning our backs on the magic pond, we (or, at least, I) set off firmly walking back to the house in the wrong direction. It's just as well that Laurie had his GPS along to prove that I was wrong.