North Lake Leelanau on Monday, April 11

Errands took me down to the unincorporated village of Lake Leelanau and back home through Leland. South Lake Leelanau was completely clear of ice for the first time this year. It was a cold day, very windy, hardly inviting one to linger on the lakeshore, but when I reached the north lake farther up M-22 and saw patches of lingering ice, I couldn't help thinking it might be the last day the lake would look at all like winter.



Whimsical formations, looking like great, icy mushroom caps, stretched along the west shore.


Inspired and curious, I decided to drive around and investigate the east side rather than going straight home. It looked completely different! The blustery west wind had piled all the ice up on that side, some of it in pancakes, some of it in long, splintery crystals.





A little way south the ice out on the lake changed color to that punky, spongy green I always associate with spring coming in, while near shore were piled winter's last thick, broken sheets.