Where did the time go? Well, some of it went to walking in the woods.
Continue reading “The last day of February”
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A last look at ice
The last day of February
Ice shadows
Some last pictures of the snow before it melts.
January ice
It’s been more cold than not for a month or so now, and that means ice on puddles. And I love taking pictures of ice. So here’s a start, from recent excursions.
The ice is pretty thick; this chunk, tossed up previously from a puddle, is a couple of inches thick. (And today I caught Our Dog walking across the ice on the slough—argh.)
You find interesting things in the woods sometimes; this bucket was left by someone working on an unofficial trail. As far as I could see the ice in it was solid all the way down.
And it’s so varied, especially when we start getting a bit of hoarfrost.
Gorgeous.
Ice
…on the pond. It hasn’t quite frozen solid, so the open spots and edges have some interesting photographic potential.
Time for a walk
Well, it’s a cold day, that’s for sure.
Ice pellets everywhere! Evidently they didn’t turn into freezing rain last night—and a sheet of ice—as they did where we live.
Quite lovely on the branches: pellets and frozen drops.
Quite lovely everywhere, actually.
Nice crunchy trails in places.
And the first puddle ice I’ve seen!
Really, one couldn’t ask for a prettier day for a walk.
Hoarfrost
We live in a dampish area, and if it gets cold there’s a section of our yard that tends to grow hoarfrost. Which it did over the past few days, very satisfactorily. These were taken yesterday—today it’s gone, alas.
Happy New Year!
To celebrate, pictures of frost flowers from the last hike of 2015: proof that beauty can expand from the most ordinary beginnings.
Frost flowers
They’ve been pretty spectacular lately. (Though not today; today it’s cold, it’s pouring with rain, and to be honest I’m avoiding excursions.)
Wishing you all the best in 2015
May you and yours have a year with health and happiness and light.
In rain, more ice
I have to confess that I generally prefer pictures of ice to pictures of rain. And since we’re suffering through rain at the moment…. Continue reading “In rain, more ice”
Green ice
Well, it has green reflections from the cedar, at any rate.
Interesting mud. Really.
When it’s this cold for this long, you start seeing holes in the dirt, with things lurking in their depths.
What’s in the holes? Pebbles.
This is what the soil is like underneath:
These crystals are called needle ice, and have lifted a layer of dirt right up. The overall structure is quite fragile and the swollen frozen ground will collapse when you step on it.
Either the pebbles warmed up in the sun faster than the surrounding frozen soil, and sank into it, or they were too heavy for the needle ice to lift. I’m not sure which explanation applies (maybe it’s both of them).
The depth of the frost heaves created by needle ice can be quite significant: here’s a chunk with three sections built on top of each other.
This makes cold-weather trail cycling quite interesting, I must say.
But someone likes all this frosty stuff!
Leaves on ice
I simply can’t resist ice. And things on it or in it. And these leaves were being particularly lovely, what with the frosty trimmings. Continue reading “Leaves on ice”
Hard light
I know spring is here—I’ve been taking pictures of the early flowers—but I’m not quite ready to give up on pictures of ice.
Ice edges
It’s going to be a monsoon tomorrow, let’s post pictures of ice.
Ice lumps
I forgot to turn off the pond pump when it got really cold this winter. I did remember before any harm was done, but in the meantime—ice lumps where the pump spits water into the little “waterfall.” The pond water is very tannic, so some of the lumps have some interesting colour highlights. Continue reading “Ice lumps”
Snow in the forecast
Snow is in the forecast for tonight, and then freezing rain, well, actually the forecasters are being a little vague. There’s precipitation coming into a cold front that’s been sitting over us, and then almost immediately it’s going to warm up, and who knows what will happen? seems to be the refrain.
I don’t have to drive anywhere tomorrow, so if it snows I’ll happily take pictures. But meanwhile, snow from a few days ago. These pictures of the slough on our property were taken early, before the sun had cleared the trees.
Hurrah for ice
Unlike much of North America—especially this year when the Polar Vortex descended over the continent—our winters are relatively warm. The result is that I haven’t had many opportunities to take wintery pictures. But recently we had a wee dump of snow, and since then it’s stayed below freezing and often sunny. So I’ve had a few chances (when not slaving over a hot computer) to take some pictures. This is the first of a series I hope to put up.
Ice cage
We’ve had a strange winter. There’s been very little precipitation (which is worriesome) and not much cold weather, by cold meaning below freezing. Winter has gone elsewhere this year, as the eastern side of North America knows very well.
But it has frozen occasionally, and this cage of old bulrushes set in ice comes from one of those occasions.
