This Red Bubble reject was taken on March 3, 2009. We had gone out into the country so I could take some photos of Graem riding his snowboard in the drifts. On the way home, we discovered this man-made waterfall and a stream that went with it. The sight made me so incredibly happy it is hard to describe in words. In the middle of a bleak, drawn-out winter, this was the first non-frozen water I had seen in a long time. To top it off, the stream bank was composed of sand! The whole world could be collapsing around me, but if I had water and sand to look at, touch and smell every day, my existence would be a blissful one.

We followed the stream to a lake where ducks were swimming around, taking off and landing. The ducks were much too skittish and far away to photograph. There was an ice shelf at about waist height beside the stream bank. I knelt in the muck, peered under the shelf, and was rewarded with the most amazing sight ever. Ice stalactites hung down from the shelf and were illuminated by the late afternoon sun reflecting off the water. The whole thing looked like a palace made of gold. I took several photos, careful not to bash my (then new) macro lens on the ice shelf or get it wet. I couldn't wait to get home and see the photos, but they unfortunately turned out as a white mess of lens flare and blur. Some of the most beautiful things in nature can't be adequately captured with a camera... at least not without patience, skill and luck - at least one of which I am lacking on most days.

On the way back to the car, I took some photos of the waterfall while standing ankle-deep in the stream. I wanted to take a lot more pictures of the ice-tongues flowing down and the rusted bit of wire on top of the waterfall. It was then that I discovered my winter boots were not as waterproof as I wanted them to be. The photo journey was curtailed, with plans to return in the spring. Unfortunately, I have no idea where this was.