“Day Is Done” and Change of Years
Delavan Lake in Wisconsin
December 27, 2023
In posting photos here from my website portfolios, I focus on one image from a different portfolio on a rotating basis. I already have featured photos from my Geneva Lake, Lake Geneva, Fontana, Williams Bay, and Delavan portfolios.
This one is from Delavan Lake. I made the photo on March 11, 2001, from the beach at Town of Delavan Community Park, which is located on the northeastern shore of the lake near its inlet. The view is toward the west, and on the opposite shore is the Assembly Park subdivision.
The photograph contains elements of symbolism. They are represented by the appropriate title “Day Is Done.”
The late-afternoon sun painted the sky as the light was fading. The man pulling the sled and the boy on it also wrapped up their day of ice fishing.
Behind the pair are a shanty, power-driven ice auger, and fishing gear. Did they belong to the man and boy, and were they going to make another trip on the ice to fetch the equipment? I do not know, since I did not stay around to see.
With the time of the year of the photo as mid-March, the ice-fishing season was nearing its end, since soon the ice would be unsafe. Same for the snowmobilers, ATVers, and any other participants in winter activities on the “hard water.”
How about all those tones and textures of the ice (or the snow covering the ice, I cannot recall)? During a “normal” winter, cycles of melting and freezing change the complexion of frozen surfaces, leaving them imprinted with footprints or vehicles tracks.
How that has changed so far this winter! Everyone may be wondering if any lakes in Walworth County will freeze completely this season. Geneva Lake, the deepest one, certainly has a long way to go to meet that mark.
End of One Year, Start of Another
One of my New Year’s Day rituals used to be going down to the shore of Geneva Lake and finding water in an opening in the ice. My usual destination was the Fontana lakefront and most often the beach.
I would pause for a bit to reflect on the old year and ponder how I could make the new year better than the previous one. Then I would cup my hand into the water and draw enough to splash on my face. Symbolically, I was washing away the old year and baptizing myself to changes in my life in the new year.
That ritual has not been practiced for several years, perhaps reflecting the daunting challenges and life complexities facing me – as well as others because I am part of a community, however broadly or specifically that may be defined.
In Burlington I live just a block and a half west of Brown’s Lake, but I never have thought about performing my ritual there. I guess I am just too spoiled by Geneva Lake!
And, while my ritual has a spiritual underpinning, I know I have embraced practicality more over the last several years by realizing I could not just envision or will the occurrence of changes. Action had to be taken.
I have found out action, especially that which is effective and productive, depends heavily on habits – what they are, how they have been formed, and how they can be changed.
Not surprisingly, the word Habits is in the titles of the following books: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard, Millionaire Success Habits by Dean Graziosi, and Atomic Habits by James Clear. If you are interested in any of them, I recommend the Covey and Clear books the most.
Underlying the notion of habits is a focus on behavior, meaning, and purpose, with the first essentially based on the other two. Gee, the concepts can be so easy to ponder and conceptualize but so difficult to put into action, particularly in consistent ways that lead to changed habits. How well I know!
Although change can start and continue when each day dawns, the opportunity for change is heightened with the beginning of a new year. January 1 is a big deal for me, the date being inspirational and aspirational.
As the new year approaches, one that will be filled with change for me, I am guided by these words written in 1909 by Irish artist John Butler Yeats to his son William Butler Yeats, the famous writer: “Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that, but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing.”
The words are used by Robert H. Lustig to begin his book The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains. Read it, and you may just change, grow, and experience happiness. I know I am with each page I turn.
May your new year be superb. That is my wish for you.
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If you wish to comment or ask a question about this post, contact me at frednoer@att.net.