Northwood News ♦ December 2008

President’s Message

By Carole Barth, Immediate Past President

Imagine trying to capture and photograph a single fragile snowflake.  You’sll have to work fast, because snow crystals are ephemeral, even in very cold weather.  Now imagine doing this without a modern high-powered microscope and camera.  Amazingly, that’s just what Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley did in 1885.

He was a farmer and also one of the first cloud physicists (self educated).  But he is best known for his “ice flowers.”  Over the years, he photographed more than 5,000 crystals.  (To see some more of his images go to www.snowflakebentley.com.)  “Under the microscope,” he said, “I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others.  Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated.  When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost.  Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind.”

I get the feeling Bentley was the type of character who would feel right at home in our community.  On the one hand, he was a precise scientific observer.  On the other, he was an artist driven to capture and communicate nature’s prolific yet fleeting beauty.  No doubt each of his pursuits enriched the other.

Similarly, I think we build community through both work and play.  As we work together, friendships grow.  We come together for a fun event like the “Pitting of the Pooches” (see article) and we are inspired anew to protect and enhance our neighborhood.   ■