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Showing posts with label icicles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label icicles. Show all posts

Friday, February 21, 2025

Ice, Baby

18°f this morning, -8°C, light snow, but clearing to partly sunny and a high of 32°f (0°C)

We were out and about today, because we needed to pick up milk from Maddie the milk girl (she has the loveliest milk from her Jersey cows, a bargain, I think, at $6 a gallon.  All that beautiful cream!). And since we had to go out, we took a few totes and stocked the booths. Not that they really needed it; with the cold and snow this past week, no one is doing much unnecessary shopping. While I love what we do, I am well aware that vintage and antique stuff is not required to live, so weather has a huge impact on sales.

It was worth going out just to see the icicles on a cliff along our road that never disappoints in wintry weather. 

This first photo though! Look at that face! The Ice Man cometh?


I'm not sure if you can tell from the photo, but the icicles extend back into the cavity under the rock shelf.

These others I liked pretty well too.




Same face one, just more distance away.





I like the way these kind of cascaded down the hill.

And the long range view. Larry knows I love these, so he obligingly stopped to let me take photos. We stopped in the middle of the road, because there isn't that much traffic on our road, as you can see by the tracks, and everyone knows I'm the weird old lady who takes pictures of everything.


Icicles excited me even as a child. I could not wait to get outside and break one off to lock, like a popsicle. Lord only knows what dirt and other stuff might have been in the ice, but I'm still kicking so I guess it didn't hurt me. One thing I miss these days is Jack Frost on the windows. Doublehung windows keep that from happening now, I suppose, but oh how I loved those icy ferns and fancy swirls that disappeared at the puff of a breath. 

A warming trend starts tomorrow, so our little bit of snow will soon be gone, and we will be back to the inglorious mud. Muddy boots, muddy dogs, muddy porch, ugh. Still, it will be nice to see the sun again. It has been quite a while--in fact I can't remember our last sunny day.

Til next time, friends!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Sunday, January 12, 2025

Thaw

10°f, -12°C, warming to 41°f. Clearing skies.

Morning sparkles

Finally, a mostly sunny day that actually warmed up to let some thawing begin! Snow left the roof of the log room with a great whoosh, and took all the lovely icicles with it. Ah well. 
The icicles I have watching grow the past couple days, all gone with the whoosh. I took this photo this morning; you can just barely make them out.

I shoveled part of the deck and salted the porch steps, and Larry salted the walks and tried to shovel, but alas this ice us still quite thick under the snow. He did get the tractor out again and worked on the driveway, so perhaps one day we can drive the van back down again.

Across the hill, we could heat the laughter and shouts of our neighbor's grandchildren as he hitched a large piece of metal roofing to his four-wheeler and was pulling them around in the snow. Other children down the road were sledding, I see, according to their Facebook pictures. It was a good day to be outdoors.

The cellarhouse. The top is storage, the bottom is where I store apples and all the food we can.

I was in and out all afternoon, after the air warmed up, but spent the morning canning pasta sauce. We still have several gallon cans of sauce given to us last summer; it is pretty bland so I added seasonings and canned it in quart jars, which will be much more suitable for us.

This evening we watched Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, an older movie that we watched several years ago. I could not remember the story line, but I knew I liked it. Such a touching movie! 

I did step outside during the movie to see the beautiful full moon though. What a sight! 


I guess that's all the non-news for today. I hope you all had a great weekend!



Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Stories and Folklore on Ice

With cold weather breathing down our necks again, I got to thinking about ice.

I've dealt with a lot of ice in the last few weeks. Larry is usually the go-to man for such things but with his new knee still healing up, I've been out and about a lot more than usual as I take care of outside chores. I don't mind, and I am sure to put those Yak Trax  ice cleats on my boots, but I have to say, I will be glad to have my man back on the job.

Our driveway was basically a skating rink at the end near the house. Lots of rain followed by freezing temperatures made sure the water was ice in no time at all. Lots of ice. Ice many inches thick in places. Then there was the usual ice on walks, on puddles, and well, pretty much everywhere. I broke up what I could with a mattock, spread sand and wood ash on walks and the worst places on the driveway. And then waited for the thaw, which came late last week.

And now, looks like more ice is on the way and this next weather wave will start with wind and rain before turnng abruptly to snow and below zero temps. Ah me.

But with all that said, I must admit ice holds a fascinating beauty. Like these photos, for example:

This first one was taken by my storytelling friend Gwyn Calvetti, who lives in Minnesota where sub-zero weather is a common winter occurrence. This is a soap bubble, blown in these cold temperatures--it freezes almost immediately and just look at the beauty created!


My sister Juianne Estes often hikes in Shenandoah National Park, and this past weekend took photos of the beautiful ice formations she saw during her hike, like these:



I remember when Jack Frost visited our windows in my childhood home. We don't see that phenonemon these days, but every now and again we might see something pretty on the car windows:


Then there are icicles, admittedly potentially dangerous, but still full of beauty:



Earlier this winter we got to see ice flowers for the first time, and now that I know why they form, I know when and where to look for them in the future.


Of course, ice can bring destruction too, as happened here in the 2003 ice storm--an event I will never forget and hope to never experience again. But never say never, right?



And then there are icy superstitions and weather lore:

Corona: “If a circle forms ‘round the moon,‘Twill rain soon.” The circle that forms around the sun or moon is called a halo. Halos are formed by the light from the sun or moon refracting (bending) as they pass through the ice crystals that form high-level cirrus and cirrostratus clouds. These clouds do not produce rain or snow, but they often precede an advancing low pressure system which may bring bad weather. (from National Park Service's education page.)

Ice in November to walk a duck, the winter will be all rain and muck.

If at Christmas, ice hangs on the willow, then clover may be cut at Easter.

If ice will bear a man at Christmas, it will not bear a mouse afterward.

As long as icicles hang from the roof in winter, so long will flax hang from the distaff.

To be caught in a hailstom is a sign your friends are growing cold

Take a meat chopper outside and cut the ground to frighten off a hailstorm.

This tale comes from Australia:

"An aboriginal myth says that frost comes from the seven stars of the Pleiades, also called the Seven Sisters. The sisters once lived on Earth but were so cold they sparkled with icicles. They flew up into the sky and once each year they pull off their icicles and hurl them down to Earth."

Icy riddles too:

I have no taste,
I have no smell,
You can see right through me,
and can not tell

Lives in winter
dies in summer
grows with its roots upward.

An Anglo-Saxon riddle from the book of Exeter Riddles, circa 960-980 AD). This is riddle #6.

A thing came marvelously     moving over the waves,
comely from the keel up.     It called out to the land,
loudly resounding.     Its laughter was horrible,
awful in its place.     Its edges were sharp;
hateful it was,     and sluggish to battle,
bitter in its hostile deeds.     It dug into shield-walls,
hard, ravaging.     It spread mischievous spells.
It spoke with cunning craft     about its creation:
“Dearest of women     is indeed my mother;
she is my daughter     grown big and strong.
It is known to men of old,     among all people,
that she shall stand up beautifully     everywhere in the world.”



A famous riddle tells the story of a person (sometimes male, in other versions female) who is found murdered in their bed with many stab wounds. The victim and the bed are soaking wet, and on the nightstand is a glass of bloody water. What was the murder weapon?

Why are there sometimes ripples on icicles? Inside Science has the answer!

There is a lot more science about icicles on this sites:

How do icicles form? an article from LiveScience.

Icicle shapes discussed at Inside Science.


With its transformative powers, it is small wonder that ice sometimes appears in folktales and legends. The Snow Queen is probably one of the best known, and was the basis for Disney's Frozen.

Icicle Woman is a haunting (and kinda bloody) ghost story from Japan.

A funny Cajun tale about a unique way to retrieve an axe!

How Davy Crockett saved us from The Frozen Dawn.

Enough about ice! Now I need something warm to drink! Coffee, anyone? But not iced, at least this time.



Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

More Snow and Ice Photos

It is just incredibly beautiful outside right now. I haven't ventured off the porch yet, though! Today I'll be going out but here are some photos from yesterday evening as the sun was setting. Snow is a lot of work, but I can never get enough of looking at it.










Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Winter's Glory: Ice and Birds

Winter brings many beautiful sights to us, from snowy hills to flocks of feeding birds to breathtaking sunsets.
I try to capture what I can in pictures; here are a few recent ones:

 I was on the phone with an AT&T tech, trying to figure out why my phone suddenly ate so much of my data allowance when I looked out the window and saw the sun shining on the icicles hanging from the roof. "Just a minute," I said, and grabbed my camera for a couple quick shots.

 A tree full of birds!
 The feeders have been super busy too.


 Inside the birds are also pretty colorful.




Smaller birds seem to like this feeder.




Can you name all the different kinds of birds in the photos?

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.
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