I often see curious ice patterns on the surface of frozen water. On Christmas morning, I saw this strange pattern on one of the farmer's outdoor bathtubs. The foreground region looks a little like terraced rice fields on both sides of a mountain pass, but each terrace seems to have a structure like veins on a leaf. Indeed, the pattern within the 'mountain' on the right looks very much like a leaf. I have no idea how these patterns formed. The image is about 3 cm across.

-JN