It was late afternoon, and we were expecting snow overnight. Temps had been nice - often above freezing during the day. In the 20's at night. There had been so snow, so the iced-over ponds were smooth and people were talking about skating. In the neighborhood chat somebody said they had measured the ice thickness at over 5", which surprised me, since the days had often been a bit over freezing.

Just about dusk, we were at the store. We were close to one of  our goose client ponds. So, just for the something to do, I drove over to the pond beach. I expected it to be empty, but I was quite wrong - it was packed - with skaters!

It was a beautiful evening, with the light fading, and a few flakes of the first snow floating through the air. The ice was beautiful - smooth and dark. Our first day of real winter this year.

The following day we got snow and sleet. Proper northeast muck for the roads.