Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Winter Settles In


J. called me to see the delicate frost formations under the side entry roof.  I stood shivering on the pavers attempting to capture the intracacy of the hanging crystals. None of my photos do them justice.
The furnace exhaust puffs out a few feet to the left of the entry and doubtless causes the cold air to form these dainty hanging ornaments.

Each of these crystal pendants is hung by a thin strand of frost and they turn slowly and constantly in the movement of cold air.

Ice feathers the metal of the entry lamp.

Pebbles waits impatiently for her morning feed.  She is well aware that we are up and about, but not rushing out to fill her hay bin!

These four paperwhite bulbs are a gift from a co-worker.  They were packaged as a "kit" with the plastic pot and a disk of compressed peaty fiber. I dropped the disk into the pot and soaked it with warm water. Several hours later it had expanded and could be fluffed up and the bulbs tucked in place.  These are thriving on the windowsill over the kitchen sink.

The paperwhites planted in November now have three stalks in bloom and their scent is noticeable in the room.

Again I have fiddled with various camera settings but not achieving the kind of close-up I wanted.

At 10 A.M. this is all we saw of the sun, a pale flattened round of light behind the frosted branches of a cottonwood. Half an hour later it has cleared the tree tops and a wash of faintest gold has crept in the south-facing windows.

J. went out to the entry porch with the older camera which, with his greater height and reach, captured better images of the crystal creations.  This was taken at close range and makes the pendant appear huge.

The largest of these ice feathers is about three inches in length.  Others are tiny bobbles ranging from half an inch upwards. Try and imagine them moving delicately in the cold air which is stirred by intermittant puffs from the furnace exhaust.



5 comments:

  1. I love your photo of the pale winter sun behind icy trees.

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  2. Oh how beautiful the frost feathers are, and I agree with DW about the sun and icy trees.

    It is bitterly cold here, and tried to snow earlier on. We have had to change Tam's train ticket to a local one, instead of the much cheaper one from mid-Wales where it is now snowing steadily (of course!)

    Two cold winters in a row - there, the power of global warming!

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  3. DW; I took the sun photo as well as the one of Pebbles the Horse through the windows--thus there may be a few bits and blobs showing. Outdoors is TOO COLD for me today!
    BB: Changes in travel plans are so off-putting--and often so costly! Grandson D. was just in and commented that the frost clusters under the porch roof looked like "hanging snow bats." A good analogy, I think.
    I tend to think the current hype about "global warming" is an effort to line certain pockets and create a furor. I'm sure damage has been done to the environment, but with, as you say, two notably cold winters in a row, the "warming" trend is not too evident here!

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  4. Wow thise crystal formations are stunning! All our snow has melted, leaving behind....MUD and lots of it!

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  5. Beautiful pictures! I especially like Pebbles waiting for her breakfast...and the ice feathers are fascinating! you must have one of those new-fangled furnaces that exhausts out of the side of the house instead of out of the roof...

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