Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Ice pancakes and ice balls have been showing up on Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg recently, treating curious Manitobans to strange ice formations with the water covered by what resembles pebbles, rocks and even pancakes. The ice anomalies were spotted last weekend at Steep Rock, Man., on the northeast shore of Lake Manitoba by local resident Peter Hofbauer, who posted photos of the phenomena on Instagram with the simple question: “Have you ever seen the lake freeze like this?”
Mother Nature has turned Lake Manitoba into a visual art project that has an ice expert in awe. What would typically be a flat, frozen surface has been turned into something more resembling pebbles and stones, as far as the eye can see. In another area, the water has crystallized into geometric lines that look like someone spilled a box of toothpicks or needles on the ground and they froze there.
