The Oxford Canal ran through the small village where I lived in England. Whenever it wasn’t raining (and often when it was) I would wander down to the towpath that ran parallel to the canal, flip a coin to decide if I was going upstream or down, then spend an hour or so ambling along the waterway. I loved being there in the early mornings, when the water was glassy-calm and the narrowboat pilots were still too busy savoring their bacon baps and morning cuppas to cast off their lines and motor toward destinations unknown. Here are a few of my favorite reflections from those peaceful morning strolls (click on any image to see the full size version).

Who’d expect to see a teepee in England?

Narrowboats on a foggy morning.

Like water off a duck’s back

The photo below is a bit of an optical illusion. With the exception of the portion of grassy bank in the bottom left corner, everything else is a reflection on the surface of the canal. What appears to be the sun rising over a foggy mountain is actually the sun peeking out from behind a cloud. There is a false shoreline through the middle of the photo, created by the reflection of a jet’s contrail. The skeletal tree limbs are also nothing but a reflection, although the top portion appears solid enough to be the actual tree (if you’re not convinced, notice there is no symmetry between the top and bottom half).

This post is part of The Daily Post‘s Weekly Photo Challenge.