City Ice Quest

There aren't a lot of melt days during February in Saskatchewan. When it does happen, given my proclivity for being down in the dumps this time of year, I usually sprint for the door. In this case it ended with supper not being ready on time for the hungry hordes. But, it also ended with some awesome pictures of icicles. They are edible too, you know. Well... some of them are.

On the left is the modest fellow that was clinging to my eavestrough. At 18 inches, not much to get excited about, but the sun was hitting it just right. It was enough to make me grab my camera.

As I was driving Wendy to her office, she suggested that I stop by our old rental home. On the right, 518 Albert Avenue. Despite it's several rounds of renovations, it continues to have fabulous ice "problems" (if that's what you call it) in the winter. Unfortunately, the sun was too low on the horizon to give me the look I was going for.

Downtown, the store fronts were clear of ice, but there was an excellent icy sludge on the roadways. I decided to head for the alleyways.

This is the kind of ice you probably wouldn't consider turning into an impromptu popsicle. I think this would have been a fabulous spectacle, if it hadn't been right above some business manager's parking entrance.

There was definite culling taking place :(

Farther along in the same alley...

The ice on the left was pretty boring ,but the melt water combined with the fire escape really sealed the deal for me.

In case of fire, break ice.

The reverse angle on the stairs also worked for me thanks to some venting warm air to created a little of T.S. Eliot's fog from The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock (bartleby.com).

Eventually, as G+ers already know, I hit the motherlode I was probably at this site for an entire hour, hoping that a large chunk of ice would fall just as I was shutter ready.

It didn't pan out that way and with no tripod handy, I couldn't manage the breaking/fall and photo at the same time--and believe me I tried to justify several scenarios where I wouldn't kill myself beneath hundreds of pounds of ice.

For those that haven't seen enough this winter... there are a few more pictures here--including a winter classic, "laced shoes on power-line"