Ice Paradise

Yesterday we had twenty-four hours of I guess what you'd call a winter mix. We had freezing rain overnight, followed by some regular rain, thunder, lightning and then a bit of snow. It was quite something! Because of the dangerous icy conditions, many schools were closed in the region including Chloé's college. The power flickered many times throughout the day yesterday but we didn't lose it. Others were not so lucky. But there was a silver lining to all of that weird weather. Today, we woke up to sunshine and a sparkly wonderland.

This morning I ventured outside in my boots with cleats on to take these photos in the backyard. I hope the photos give a sense of how very beautiful it was. It was as if every single branch, leaf and berry was clothed in diamonds. Look how gorgeous the clematis vine seed heads look encased in ice!

The photo below shows you how very, very sparkly it was! It looks like the garden is covered in fairy lights but it's the sunlight reflected in the ice on all the branches. Magical!

This is one of my Palibin lilac bushes. The ice on these branches looks like a bird in flight!

Meeko was able to walk on top of the ice surface. While it was slippery, he got adept pretty quickly at walking (sliding) around. He had a lot of fun exploring all corners of the yard. He's been limited lately because of how deep the snow was in places but with a covering of ice, he was able to go everywhere! My movements were a little less elegant. Because I weigh more than thirty-five pounds (!), I broke the ice and sunk in at every step!

With all of the sunshine, the ice is melting. Look at all of the ice that has fallen off of the branches of our chokecherry tree!

It's easy to get a little discouraged by winter weather in late January but today's icy spectacle showed that, while conditions can be sometimes be harsh, there is beauty to be found even in one's own backyard.