Last LJ Piece of the Old Year

My last Nature's Notebook column of 2010 ran in the Lakeville Journal on Dec 23rd, and is readable here with free registration. Fair use excerpt:

"The ice sculptures in my winter carnival are cliffside cascades, the blue of new ice and the brittle white of old. They stand out against the mountains amid the evergreens and glaze the tumbled stone. Or perhaps they weep from maples after warm days with rising sap. The steam from the river coats the trees on either side with an icy sheen that glistens in the new light of morning."