The weather has been brutally cold the last few days with temperatures in the mid-20s or lower since Tuesday. While cold weather, snow and ice can create significant problems, like slick dangerous road and power outages, they also create an amazing beauty you just won’t find during any other season.
The first three photos below were taken on Tuesday while it was still raining lightly causing ice to form on grasses and leaves creating some beautiful natural ice sculptures.. I am still amazed by the way these plants, especially the grasses, were able to remain upright in spite of the weight of the ice while I saw grown trees tipping over. I’m sure there is some kind of life metaphor in that, but it escapes me at the moment.
I took the last two photos this morning. The wind chill was 11 degrees, and I didn’t have any gloves with me. After about 15 minutes, my hands were starting to hurt, and it became increasingly difficult to work the camera controls. After another 15 minutes, I decided it was time to call it a day. But I was able to get some interesting shots of tupelo trees in which the river had frozen around them. What caught my attention was the way the ice seemed to form in rings around the tree trunks. It almost seems as if the trees are arrows shot in the center of the bulls-eye.
As I write this, it is beginning to snow. Hopefully, I will be able to get out tomorrow and get some more pictures before the temperatures warm and the beauty of winter melts away.
