A visit to the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in search of a bald eagle recently spotted there netted an altogether unexpected photographic outcome. When it became apparent that the eagle was hanging out elsewhere, I walked down to the Concord River whose banks were lined with some of the most interesting ice formations I have ever seen. The combination of temperatures vacillating around the freezing point and a gradually decreasing river height resulted in fascinating patterns and ice structures.

As rare as the ice formations were, I encountered something even more surprising after having ventured a mile into the refuge. Understand, for context, that during the entire course of my two hour visit, I only encountered a half dozen people willing to brave the sub-freezing temperatures, and most of them within a few hundred yards of the parking lot. Just as I reached the furthest extent of the trail I was on, I noticed, approaching from the opposite direction, two human figures. Soon it became apparent that one was on crutches and a second later I realized it was Nico with his friend Raz. I estimate the probability of this chance occurrence as roughly equal to the likelihood of running into Jeanine at a fast food restaurant, one in a million.