Rule of Berries:

If it's February and animals have not eaten it, it's probably poisonous.

Since I was not working today we decided to go for a walk and see if we could walk over the ice to Maple Island. The bridge to the island gets closed off during the winter and over the ice is the only way to get to 'our bench'.

The Beloved and I like to walk around the lake (about 8 miles) and rest for a few minutes sitting on one of the benches on the island. We talk about how we'll buy the island when we win the lottery and where we'd have the garden and the hot-tub. Silly stuff :)

We made it halfway on the lake when I spotted a big crack in the ice and while the Beloved said: 'oh, cool!' he quickly turned around when the creaking noises became awfully loud. Ice-fishers apparently are much braver and/or lighter than us; I saw a few of them in the distance.
Our bench will still be there in a month or two.

Next to the gate closing off the bridge is this berry tree looking very festive, though nobody's falling for it. The berries looked decidedly undisturbed.