As I snuggled in my bed last night, I was prepared for nothing special in the weather this morning. Yesterday‘s forecast had been for snow, sleet and freezing rain.
Mother Nature skipped the snow part, and went straight to sleet, and it kept going, all day long. The temperature remained steady at 27 degrees during the whole day, but as bedtime drew nigh, it began to rise quickly and by the time I went to bed it was 32 degrees with no signs of leveling off. So my thoughts of a beautiful morning were of a beautiful rainy, wet morning.
The little girl within me was more than delighted this morning as daylight revealed a thick coating of ice over everything!
I very quickly put breakfast on the table for the family, gobbled mine down, and went out into the wonderland of diamonds and ice.
Thank goodness I have trekking poles! The ice was thick and not forgiving for a false move, and to further complicate things, I’m on the side of a mountain! Every surface is on a slant. With the poles though, I didn’t take a spill.
When I left the cabin, the temperature was 32 degrees and it was very cloudy.
There was no dripping. Everything in a frozen, fairlyland.
As I returned to my cabin, the sun was just beginning to break through the clouds, and like magic, it seemed to begin raining. Of course it wasn’t rain, but melting ice, dripping down on me.
Now this afternoon most of the diamonds and ice are gone from the trees and bushes.
But no worries! There is snow in tomorrow’s forecast!
How cool is that?
Stay tuned! I may be in my element tomorrow again, wandering with my hiking companions, my two cameras, taking snow pictures!
16 responses to “Diamonds Of Ice!”
I too was out early taking ice pictures. Pure delight even if I had frozen fingers afterward. We share the love of beauty of different seasons, and although I bemoan the damage that ice can do, the wonderland it creates is the reward. Now if I could just paint such beauty……….
Wonderful photos, Brenda.
Nancy, I was eyeing some new fangled gloves that are supposed to be computer and camera friendly, but pulled out any old pair of wonderfully soft and thin leather this morning and they did the trick! I was able to operate my camera with the gloves ON! Yay! But after being out for more than an hour taking picts, I must admit, I was ready to be back in the warm cabin!
Best of luck with those paintings! Keep my updated on what you create! If I had more time, I’d pull my beloved pastels back out!
Stay warm! And glad you liked the picts!
I so enjoyed your photos. My photo skills are inferior, by far, but that does not stop me from trying to capture the glory in nature. Framing, detail, clarity, lighting, and choice of subjects…..you are a true artist with your cameras.
Let me know when you publish a book….or perhaps something a little less difficult….maybe a poster with multiple photos….say of a day of ice? It would be gorgeous hung on a person’s wall!
So glad you have your web site now so all of us can enjoy!
Aw, Judy, you’re way too kind! When Kevin was little, I repeatedly told him that he’s got to take TONS of photographs to get ONE that is good. With digital now, that is so very very easy and that is still my approach. If nothing else, I get tons of practice! There are days when I come home from a hike and have more than 500 photographs to sort through!
I hear “book!” from others as well, but having this website is pure heaven for me. Very little work and I get to share my photos and my bird-brained thoughts! 🙂
Thanks so much for your encouragement! Stay warm!
Brenda, so, so lovely – thanks for sharing.
Suzanne! So glad you liked my walk through the ice coated wilds of central Virginia!
WOWEEE beautiful. I “almost” miss the cold. Thanks for sharing and giving me a taste of the old homestead
Goodness Loret! To get a Floridian to say they “almost”miss the cold! That is an amazing accomplishment! I’m very flattered! Stay nice and toasty down there, and I’ll put another log on the fire!
How wonderful that you got the chance to play (visually and photographically) with all those ice-coated plants. That’s an advantage you have from living so much farther north than we in Austin do.
Ah, but you’ve got the **music** Steve!! And yes, I love to play in the ice and snow. I’d be pretty unhappy if I didn’t have each of the seasons!
The picture that got to me the most was the one of the blueberry bushes. Nicely done.
Steve, I can see that photo as a Christmas card. This year’s card is not nature inspired – it’s candy canes photoshoped into a kaleidoscope. Thank goodness for overnight shipping! I ran outa ink!
Beautiful! We, too, are facing the same weather here this morning – icy. More ice is in the forecast. You have very beautiful and wondrous things growing near you. I enjoyed the diamonds of ice. We recently drove back from Florida to NY and were going to take the Blue Ridge Parkway but it closed due to the weather. Beautiful country!
Ah Kathy! As I look at my thermometer, at 12:45 in the afternoon it is 63º in the shade. I am longing for winter weather, this being the first day of winter! I know, I know, it will come but I love the beauty it creates!! And yes, I know that the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive were closed down on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning because of snow. Here at my cabin, I wasn’t lucky enough to get any of that snow though. You enjoy your winter in NY!
Hi, Brenda,
I follow the Beautiful Wildlife Garden blogs, and just discovered this one.
Here in southwest Missouri, we are no stranger to ice storms! My oh my, I have a few pictures of my own(nowhere near this beautiful, I will admit). Our most recent “diamond” day was only a week or so ago(may have been at the same time you got this one). Happily the ice does not have to be very thick to be beautiful. We look at the ice on the power lines and shiver, recalling a particularly awful storm
of about 6 years ago. But no denying it is breathtakingly beautiful.
You have inspired me with your comment above about taking photos: You must take TONS to get ONE good one. Oh, that is so true about so many things in life. Practice, practice, practice. I think a certain amount of native artistic talent doesn’t hurt, either. 😉
Marilyn, thank you so much for your kind words! I *do* take many many many photographs. Having digital photography has really been a blessing in so many ways! I shudder to think of the days when I would drop off a roll (or two or three) of film at my favorite grocery store!
I’m so very lucky to be retired. So if ice, or snow hits, it doesn’t matter! I’ve got nowhere to go but hiking! Seems we have more ice storms here than snow storms, but may be because the ice stirs my imagination. Between being free of work schedules, I also have a whole house generator, so no worries about the power either. Life is mighty good, here in the mountains!
Happy New Year!