Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

Minutes away from the start of the Super Bowl, I took this photo.

If you'd like to simulate what ice fishing was like, for me at least, then stare at this photo for a couple of hours.   The bottom,  8 feet below the 10-inch ice cover, was carpeted with dormant weeds.  I had an especially live minnow on my hook, and good tunes on my headset which made the time pass quickly, but during this two-hour outing I saw no fish and had no bites on the two tip-ups set outside my shelter.

But, in case you think it might have been a dull afternoon, consider the bright sunlight against the shoreline and the moon as it began to rise in the east.   I had uninterrupted time to review what I need to do, what I want to do, what I recently did, this morning's church sermon, that the Packers won't play in the big game today, but that Aaron Rodgers is MVP, the continued, consistently warm temperatures, and how months, seasons and years fly by.  Too much to contemplate for one session on the ice, really.

Had a phone call from Mary Gunnerson this morning.   How thoughtful she is of others, and she called to just say "Hello," and that she remembered this day was Arni's birthday.   Her own situation?  Not good, really, but you'd never know from Mary's voice.   If liver transplants were a fingersnap, and cost was not an issue, Mary would be healthy again.

The fact nothing but my minnow wiggled beneath the ice hole between by boots was immaterial.   The day was beautiful, and around me there was beauty, life, the universe up close and far away.

-  Dick Purinton