The top layer of ice on the Mississippi is moving aside. I pass over this river just about every day and have been eagerly watching it for signs of thaw. All of a sudden like magic its currents started revealing themselves again this week. This is one of my favorite stretches--there are no houses here, only woods for miles and miles and a road that you hardly see another traveler on. It's about five minutes from where I now live--I love that. The first time I came here a few years ago it was late June and just on the edge of dark. I stopped and got out to take in this river in its young form and saw three deer drinking at its banks fat from summer grass and not caring that I took in the evening with them; fireflies were everywhere. The river was literally singing. I could here it again as it pushed the last of the ice away.
