January 26, 2026

We made it out onto the Lake Mendota ice.

The sun popped.

IMG_5709

Yes, that's Meade out there. Just before that, he saw it this way:

Spotify's "daylist" chose this for us:

Though spring is here, to me it's still September....

For us, it's winter.

33 comments:

tim maguire said...

I'd love to take a walk on our lake (Lake Ontario), but the inlets where it's frozen are bounded by piers and there is no realistic access. The open spaces where there is access (i.e., beaches), it isn't frozen.

Achilles said...

I am trying to find out if the office is open. I suspect it isn't. The roads look like I don't want to be on them with a bunch of southern drivers.

Ann Althouse said...

Pop culture factoid: The place where you see us walking is where Joni Mitchell is photographed on the cover of "Hejira."

Flat Tire said...

I love the sound that footsteps make when it’s that cold. haven’t heard it in years

Dave Begley said...

Ann walks on water. Just like Jesus.

Like the Left, I omitted a critical fact.

Money Manger said...

No ice fishing on Lake Mendota ?

Leland said...

Begley beat me to it.

I prefer to float on water, which I’m doing now.

Maynard said...

I grew up in Chicago's Northside, about 5 blocks from Lake Michigan. The winters were pretty cold back then and the Howard Street beach froze pretty hard and created sand castles

One day I was venturing out on the lake with my dog (Doberman) and we fell in, up to my chest. We broke the world record for the half mile sprint getting back home.

I was about 11 or 12 at the time. It was actually kind of exhilarating.

Quaestor said...

ASCAP is coming. Duck and cover!

Beasts of England said...

19° here and a few snow flurries mixed with sunshine. We will band together and survive this! lol

Peachy said...

After a cold weekend, we warm back up to to above normal temps.
Lovely photos and film Ann and Meade.

Iman said...

Walkin’ on shaky ground
Ever since those temps went down

Anthony said...

Blehh, one more day and I can wear shorts again here (AZ). Not sorry I'm not there anymore.

I never drove out on a lake until I was probably 58. In this case, Lake Winnebago. Was there one Winter ca. 2017/18 or so, it got very cold, and just. . . .drove out. Maybe half a mile. Got out. Took pictures. Drove back to shore.

Big Mike said...

Peachy said...

After a cold weekend, we warm back up to to above normal temps
.

Not out here in the Shenandoah alley! Here in Virginia were used to a snowstorm being followed the next day by temperatures in the forties, and sometimes fifties. According to the Nat’l Weather Service we’re not supposed to get back up to freezing until a week from tomorrow.

Temujin said...

"Pop culture factoid: The place where you see us walking is where Joni Mitchell is photographed on the cover of "Hejira."

No kidding? My favorite album of hers. I did not know that. Grok says that her image was superimposed over the shot of Lake Mendota. She was apparently "traveling in some vehicle" in LA at the time.

Ann Althouse said...

"The place where you see us walking is where Joni Mitchell is photographed on the cover of 'Hejira'"/"Grok says that her image was superimposed over the shot of Lake Mendota. She was apparently "traveling in some vehicle" in LA at the time."

It depends on what the meaning of "is" is.

Peachy said...

Big Mike - brrrrr.
We are going to have your normal temps. Which is not normal for here, this time of year.

Meade said...

https://grok.com/share/bGVnYWN5LWNvcHk_0a968dfe-8f1e-4ff2-a47f-6ea3a22c884c

Peachy said...

wow - that album cover. Is that picnic point in the background?

Meade said...

https://www.reddit.com/r/madisonwi/comments/1147tnp/this_twitter_person_located_these_photos_of_joni/

Bill Crawford said...

I recommend streaming Serenade Radio". They play old timey music with some forays into the 60s and 70s. Seems to ne a Mary Steyn project.

Meade said...

Yes, Peachy, that is picnic point in the background

Jaq said...

The sovereign power within, in its natural state, so confronts what comes to pass as always to adapt itself readily to what is feasible and is presented to it. This is because it puts its affection upon no material of its own choice; rather it sets itself upon its objects with a reservation, and then makes the opposition which encounters it into material for itself. It is like a fire, when it masters what falls into it, whereby a little taper would have been put out, but a bright fire very quickly appropriates and devours what is heaped upon it, and leaps up higher out of those very obstacles. - Meditations, Book IV

I guess another version is "What does not kill us makes us stronger" Maybe that's what he meant by the bit that followed on quickly: "Continually, therefore, grant yourself this retreat and repair yourself. But let them be brief and fundamental truths, which will suffice at once by their presence to wash away all sorrow, and to send you back without repugnance to the life to which you return" Make your sayings short and sweet.

Peachy said...

The photos look like they are real and she was actually there.

Meade said...

https://wisconsinlife.org/story/joni-mitchell-skates-on-lake-mendota-and-into-music-history/

Beasts of England said...

I got up the courage to go outside and check the storm results and I can report, without exaggeration, snowfall accumulations of almost 1/16th of an inch. Pray for us!! :)

Ann Althouse said...

For those who haven't checked Meade's links, it looks pretty clear that she was photographed on the lake and Grok was wrong about it being a doctored image.

Temujin said...

Meade...I see your point. I misread the Grok answer to my question entirely. It seems Joni did skate on that very spot you were standing. Kinda sacred ground...er...ice.

bagoh20 said...

We've turned the corner, heading back to summer. It was a cold week here in Vegas, but back up to the 70's by this weekend. I can't wait to be unbearably hot again. Cooling off is a lot more fun than bundling up and chopping wood.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

September Song — Willie Nelson

bagoh20 said...

Grok, create a video of me on Lake Medota, and then create enough blog posts to get me over 3000.
Honey, could you draw me a nice hot bath.

john mosby said...

Joni Mitchell never lied!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uznTHSEgx4U&list=RDuznTHSEgx4U&start_radio=1

CC, JSM

William50 said...

Iman said...

Walkin’ on shaky ground
Ever since those temps went down
---------------------------------

Shakey Ground

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