Thursday, January 26, 2017

This Crisp Winter Air

It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it.
~John Burroughs


December and January have been roller coaster months as far as temperatures go. We've had bitter cold nights, unseasonably warm days and a fair bit of rain, freezing rain and snow. Below are some frosty window scenes interspersed with general images of winter in Peterborough.

Pour yourself a coffee, bundle up for the cold and enjoy the photos.

frosty3
The frost performs its secret ministry,
Unhelped by any wind.
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge
A dull day serves as a monochrome backdrop for winter's fine artwork.





little lake warm colours
Thank goodness for the first snow, it was a reminder--no matter how old you became and how much you'd seen, things could still be new if you were willing to believe they still mattered. ~ Candace Bushnell
A crisp winter morning along the shores of Little Lake





frost
How beautiful thy frosty morn,
When brilliant gems each feathery thorn!
~ Bernard Barton
This is how my window appeared one morning as the sun was just beginning to rise.





exclamation point
A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.
~ Carl Reiner
Every now and then, Donald Trump actually forgets to end one of his tweets with an exclamation point. Here's one which escaped his incessant Twitter fingers. This errant, frozen punctuation mark was found floating past the Peterborough shoreline. "Sad!"





night frost4
The frost performs its secret ministry,
Unhelped by any wind.
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge
This frosty window with the moon behind it reminded me of lemmings about to throw themselves off a cliff. Thankfully. there's a feathery-soft landing awaiting them.





winter waterfront
Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen. ~ Willa Cather
The view across the river and lake will take your eye to the east side of the city where Quaker Oats is busy churning out overly-sweet-smelling oatmeal.





icy window 2
What miracle of weird transforming
Is this wild work of frost and light,
This glimpse of glory infinite?
~ John Greenleaf Whittier
There was a lot of ice on our streets on this day. We'd had hours of freezing rain overnight and we awoke to this on our window panes. My son, Alex was staying with me and had plans to drive home that day. This page which appeared in my Facebook feed convinced him to wait until the day warmed enough for a significant melt. The first video shows a kid zooming past my apartment building. I could see both Alex's car and my own in the parking lots. Do click.





concrete couch through laneway
Getting an inch of snow is like winning 10 cents in the lottery. ~ Bill Watterson
This is a peek between two buildings belonging to the Art Gallery of Peterborough. That sofa sits out there facing the lake all year long - it's made of concrete.





moon frost2
One breathy vowel
mists the glass warming window
panes crystallized with snow
~ Robin Glasse
Another moonshot with a confusion of images etched into the frost. What do you see?





Swinging
The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found? ~ J.B. Priestley
The kids' playground is mostly abandoned throughout winter. Swing seats are padded with fresh puffs of snow.





frosty2
One winter morning I awoke to see magnificent lines of frost stretching across my window panes. They seemed to rise with the sunshine and the bitter cold outside. They looked like little miracles that had been formed in the dark of the night. I watched them in sheer amazement and marveled that such beautiful forms could be born during such a winter-cold night. ~ Joyce Rupp
I find it difficult to stop taking photos of my frosty windows. If winter is lemons, this is my lemonade.





bare trees
Winter teetered on the verge of succumbing to the returning sun, but today the breeze still preferred the touch of snowflakes. ~ Rue
Bare branches against the partly-cloudy sky. Some days it only takes a matter of moments until you have entirely different weather.





moon frost3
These Winter nights against my window-pane
Nature with busy pencil draws designs
Of ferns and blossoms and fine spray of pines,
Oak-leaf and acorn and fantastic vines,
Which she will make when summer comes again--
Quaint arabesques in argent, flat and cold,
Like curious Chinese etchings.
~ Thomas Bailey Aldrich
It looked to me like birds landing atop the cedars but it's only the frost so delightfully backlit by the moon.





wintry little lake2
It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it.
~ John Burroughs
Snowy shoreline on a late winter afternoon. The gulls and ducks seem unaffected by the cold.





night frost3
Frost grows on the window glass, forming whorl patterns of lovely translucent geometry.
Breathe on the glass, and you give frost more ammunition.
Now it can build castles and cities and whole ice continents with your breath's vapor.
In a few blinks you can almost see the winter fairies moving in . . .
But first, you hear the crackle of their wings.
~ Vera Nazarian
One more moonlit frosted window. Let your imagination take flight.

I'll have more winter images for you before too much longer. No doubt there will be more frosted windows among them. More coffee?

24 comments:

Ruth Hiebert said...

Seeing all those beautiful frosty scenes makes me miss the ones I used to have.I know the new windows are better, but I love those frost flowers.Thanks for sharing these.

Karen said...

I so miss the smell of the Quaker. Our elementary school was right by court house hill (its apartments now) so we got a full blast of it. The other day I was toasting oats to make granola. Mike thought it was a disgusting smell, but it sure brought back memories for me.

stephen Hayes said...

Your wonderful pictures left me wanting to pull on a sweater.

Marie Smith said...

Who knew frost was so interesting? Beautiful photos.

Shammickite said...

Jack Frost is a very innovative artist!

DJan said...

I'm glad I clicked on that link and watched people skating on the streets. Way better than having cars sliding all over the place. And as usual I adore your pretty frost pictures and more. :-)

Cloudia said...

Honey! You blew my mind. I'm just bowled over by your eye and your place and what you achieve here! Like a professional version of what I try to put out there. You need to understand that I am not being 'nice' you really give us something soulful and healing. You could schedule-post one or two of these a day, then we could savor them as they deserve. But it is a nice narrative too. <3

William Kendall said...

Delightful shots- your takes of bare trees are my favourites!

Theresa said...

So that's where Trumps exclamation points got off too! They escaped to Canada.
I see a lovely hummingbird in the very pic. Hopefully all the real ones made it to Mexico.

Rita said...

:)

Linda said...

Lovely frosty window photos. I miss them since we had all new windows put in a couple of years ago. It certainly has been a dreary month, yearning for some sun to brighten the day.

Linda at To Behold The Beauty said...

Love your frost art. Beautifully photographed.

Out on the prairie said...

Hard to leave the beauty of frost alone.

messymimi said...

Beautiful, and yes, i would enjoy something hot while viewing these!

Birdie said...

It is so mild here most of the year so I rarely get to see windows in winter. They are so pretty! Keep them coming!

Wendy said...

Yup, it must be Canada - skating on the streets! We also have had freezing rain and icy streets. Lost power a while back, but I can't complain about this winter. It's been mild, so far.

Your pics of the moon behind frosty panes sure stir up the imagination! Birds, jungle trees, bushes, faces and lots more.

Those abandoned swings always make me feel sad. And I thought that concrete sofa was fun! Sure wouldn't have guessed it was concrete. Lots to look at out your way.
Hugs

Unknown said...

OK, so here in San Diego, not so frosty. Didn't think I was missing out, but wow, those frosty window pictures are STUNNING! If you're finding it difficult to stop photographing them, then please don't stop!

Barbara said...

Those snowflakes against the moon... sigh. Pure magic. That would entertain me for hours! I'm so glad your son decided to wait for the ice to melt!!

yaya said...

Love the moon shots! So beautiful and every one of them different and delightful! That ice storm looked so scary to me! I hate ice but that little girl skating knew how to have a good time with it! (all I see are fractures in the future! Sorry, it's the surgical nurse in me!) I had to visit your previous post that I missed. Loved the Hanukkah celebration at your home...so pretty!

Mage said...

I've never seen frosted windows like that before. Beautiful.

Daryl said...

iam so loving those frosted window photos ... i am not sure if its good or if its bad that our windows never get to look that beautiful

Bone said...

Love the imagination-inviting frosted windows. Love the quietness of snow. We have not been fortunate to see more than a few flurries so far this winter. It's been strangely warm.

photowannabe said...

Wow, amazing, beautiful and just a bit scary too.
Glad your son decided to wait a while.

A Cuban In London said...

You took my breath away. Thanks.

Greetings from London.