It's been that kind of winter...

"This image shows the Great Lakes on February 19, 2014, when ice covered 80.3 percent of the lakes - coverage not achieved since 1994." Credit: Jeff Schmaltz

And this year we're having post-ice storm tree thoughts. Here are some intelligent ones:

• "Trees and Ice Storms: The development of Ice Storm–Resistant Urban Tree Populations" (thanks to Darcie McKelvey, editor of the Waterloo-Wellington Wildflower Society's "Dogtooth" newsletter, for recommending it!)
• "The City’s Trees Were Hit Hard by the Ice Storm - But a Toronto arborist explains that post-storm cleanup and long-term tree care will require far more than picking up branches and wielding chainsaws"

 And then, there's this, "Winter works more on... our own physicality than the landscape – the sheer stress that the season can put on our skin and bones, making us clench and resist the environment and resent our own limitations." -Harry Wade