Fishdecoy

Ice Blink

By Fishdecoy

Voyage to the bottom of the Earth turns world upside down. High-latitude heavens of aurora australis and Southern Cross give way to polar sun scribing arcs through summer sky. Immense tabular icebergs shimmer and dance above the horizon, while streaks of light from ice yet unseen set clouds aglow.

61° south. Frozen ghost ships of ice loom as Spirits of the South. Their lumbering white hulks are hidden in fog, then revealed. Jagged bergy bits and growlers crouch behind waves ready to hole unsuspecting vessels. Ice crystal storms pelt ‎seamen on watch. Blue whales, baleen straining ocean water, breach alongside, huffing and puffing tales of faraway seas.

76° south. Storm-petrels on the wing beckon, "Come hither, friends; this way to land." Adelie penguins scamper. Splish! Splash in a Ross Sea dance. Suddenly, two points on the port bow, an iceberg explodes. Ice shards are white rockets in air, streaking across blue sky and then falling back to sea. Frozen energy released. Giant ice cubes bob on ocean deep.

Landfall. Mt Erebus looms directly ahead, peering from on high as a merchant ship steams into McMurdo Sound's icy grip. Grey-hulled ship twists and turns through ice pack leads. Spirits of explorers long gone waft like sea smoke along the Ross Island shoreline. Cargo ship and men aboard shrink to minute specks before the grace of Antarctica's unbounded icy cathedral. Earth’s transcendent beauty, majesty, and fierceness overwhelm. A lone seaman weeps. Mountains soar. And geologic time spills into the sea.

Minnehaha in a Word

By Fishdecoy

Minnehaha's "laughing waters" flow beneath the Hiawatha Avenue Bridge on a course destined for the Mississippi River and the long journey to the sea. Ha! Minnehaha's serene goes unnoticed overhead where drivers of speeding cars rush to and fro. Nearby, a dale flush with golden winter grasses snuggles into a crook of this city stream's banks. The roar of distant jets at the airport muffles the sound of laughter floating in the air from children ice skating. Swoosh, skate, laugh. Minnehaha.