Hoar frost

Iris Marsh

copyright Jeanette Jobson

I was up at 6am this morning and it was still too dark to see the world outside, but within half an hour or so light arrived revealing a hard frost. A hoar frost covered pretty much every surface, some places more heavily than others. So fueled by coffee and dressed in a warm fleece and scarf I ventured outside to capture the icy scenes.

I love the marsh photo most of all, it was so peaceful, the sun was just rising over the trees and hitting the grasses. The colours were perfect and everything was, literally, frozen in time.

The long ice crystals that formed on the plants amazed me. It looked as if a confectioner had frosted them with sugar. My hands were freezing cold at this point but I kept going.

The squirrels have taken most of the rose hips this year and put them into storage. Even the few I found on the bushes had been hollowed out by mice or birds already, leaving little red shells that the frost covered.

The pond had a very thin layer of ice on it and the trees trunks were reflected hazily in the ice.

The sun cut a swath through the meadow, hitting the trees on the opposite side and the grass and earth were hard or crunchy as I walked over them.

By this point my hands were too cold to operate the camera well, so it was time to head back inside and warm up. But it was worth getting cold. Early morning light is so perfect, especially when its frosty.