The sun is out & everything looks so bright and sparkly, but again it's deceptive, as it's colder than heck! You've heard me mention the observation platform & how icy it is, so here's a shot of it--you can see why it's so dangerous to try to walk out there. Most of the wind in the winter comes from the Northeast, so the left side of the platform gets hit the worst. If you look @ the center mound of ice you'll see a small piece of the chain sticking out--when there's no ice, the chain is almost to my waist, so there has to be at least 2-3 feet of acumulated ice over the end of the platform right now. 
I took today's blip from about half way out on the platform (the non-icy part) looking back toward the shore. There's actually some sand from the beach visible, but lest you think the snow & ice are melting, here's a bigger view of the area. There are lots of big chunks of ice up on the shore that just shine in the sun--they look like huge diamonds---making the whole beach area look so beautiful; this one was about a foot long. The rest of the shoreline looks pretty much like this, with the waves rolling in & adding to the frozen landscape. 
Tom lasted about a minute before heading back to the car--I lasted almost 5 minutes before wimping out---we headed off to breakfast & some nice hot coffee!! :)