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Friday, December 25, 2009

Happy Christmas


Such a beautiful chilly blue day calls out for a walk.

Exactly one year ago I was working hard at making a double batch of Ratatouille. Today I am at it again, but on this day it was well worth getting out for a walk while the eggplant salts out.


Last year was a different story with the only option was to stay inside rather than slogging about. Little did I know when I took the photo above that it would continue to be a problem all day and I went NO WHERE that day.

And ate Ratatouille for a week.

Today, I went over to the Watershed for a quick walk. It was still, blue and quite frosty.



The trail out to the little pond is seldom used, as evidenced by the moss covered walkway.,




I wanted to get some pictures of the frozen water and happily there was some nice contrast close to the viewing platform.


a white patch caught my eye while I wandered through the woods. At first I thought it was a bit of garbage but upon close examination I see that it is frost formed into frozen threads. I have never seen anything like this and it was very odd as there was only two patches. They were springing from downed tree limbs. We are not children of the ice so I posted photos to "ID Please" on Flickr to see if anyone could explain this interesting sight. I am thinking it is soft rime but we have such little experience of frozen environments.



A regular on Flickr pointed me to the id of "Frost Flowers" In viewing the Wiki page and seeing some of the other photos, I agree with him. The rising sap on broken limbs pushes moisture out and it freezes in a linear fashion.
The woods were pretty quiet. I found one feeding guild of nuthatch and chickadees and a very quiet Hairy woodpecker. A few early morning joggers were about, as usual.


I thought this trail fence made a pretty picture.


The Ratatouille is done. I suspect there will be left-overs.

Happy Christmas

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