Everything was coated with a thick layer of ice.
Ice-laden tree branches fell and brought down power lines. We had no heat from 3:30 until the power finally came back on at 11:30 a.m. yesterday.
Sunday morning we hurried to get outdoors before the ice melt. Driving through the forest was breathtaking, like moving through a glass cathedral as the sun hit the tops of the trees.
Ice-laden tree branches fell and brought down power lines. We had no heat from 3:30 until the power finally came back on at 11:30 a.m. yesterday.
No way to cook either, except for a gas barbecue grill. Cold and uncaffeinated, we waited forever to get something approaching boiling water to happen on the grill and provide coffee and tea!
Poor camellias suffered the most. Hundreds of buds waiting to bloom on our seven camellia trees, now turned to mush.
Sunday morning we hurried to get outdoors before the ice melt. Driving through the forest was breathtaking, like moving through a glass cathedral as the sun hit the tops of the trees.
Each needle of the long-leaf pines had its own casing of ice. When I got out to take a photo a chorus of tinkling greeted me as pieces of ice began to fall.
As more and more melted and the drama faded, we stopped to eat our breakfast and see how the water birds were doing in the cold. There was only a light skim of ice at the back of the pond and in just a few moments we recorded a beautiful flock of Hooded Mergansers taking off (foreground), many Cormorants, Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, a Roseate Spoonbill, White and Brown Pelicans, Tundra Swan, a flock of Bluebirds, another of Cedar Waxwings, and a third of Chipping Sparrows.
As more and more melted and the drama faded, we stopped to eat our breakfast and see how the water birds were doing in the cold. There was only a light skim of ice at the back of the pond and in just a few moments we recorded a beautiful flock of Hooded Mergansers taking off (foreground), many Cormorants, Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, a Roseate Spoonbill, White and Brown Pelicans, Tundra Swan, a flock of Bluebirds, another of Cedar Waxwings, and a third of Chipping Sparrows.
By the time we drove home, the ice storm was just another memory.
