I bundled myself appropriately for the cold and more importantly against the wind and went walking this morning. The sunlight seemed especially strong, though not able to coax warmth enough to counter the icy air. The water in the creek was clear and bubbled over the small pebbles where the bridge crosses. When I'd crossed the creek and emerged into the openess under the power lines, I decided to walk across that land to another place where the creek wanders through and visit. Once spring begins, and plants are growing that area becomes choked with tall plants but right now, all of that has died back, the brittle canes broken and split and scattered on the edge of the creek. I could see the water easily. The surface of the creek bed was ridged from unseen currents and the ridges were interrupted by stones that barely protruded through the sand. Water flowed from my left to the right, as it always does there. But the wind was strong and created the illusion of reversing the direction of the creek. Wind moved invisibly, pushing the surface of the water from right to left. Though the ripples that created were barely visible, in the strong sunlight, the subtle changes were enough to effect the reflected light. Waves of light lines, like the pattern of the scales on the skin of a snake, slithered against the current and faded until the next wind current brushed the water and stirred the snake. I could see an area, shallower and more filled with mud, where a thin skin of ice had formed over night and now looked rough, like the sloughed skin of a snake.