After what was a relatively warm January, Winter said "hello" this week, leaving a foot of snow on the high mesa to nourish the earth.  As I write, snow is sliding off the metal roof.  But because it had been so warm, very interesting things have been happening.  Our friend and Navajo Churro Sheep registrar Connie Taylor said the snow was like concrete.  It was heavy, dense, filled the shovel in blocks, and probably would have made a great igloo.  I am certain I missed this week in physics class, but the conditions were perfect to create the cornice shown below, which has grown in the last couple of days and may come crashing down this afternoon as the temperature warms.  Small pieces fell from one corner this morning, but it is surprising, given the weight, that it is hanging on at all.

ice cornice On the south side of the house, the snow was very different and more crystalline in nature, as is demonstrated in the image below showing lacework melting into icicles.

Ice abstractions 1 Water dripping onto solid ice in a stock tank, does some really wild and strange things.  The white streaks in the photograph is water dripping and splashing onto the ice.  I took the photograph in color mode and did not make adjustments to render it black and white.  

ice abstracts

The same is true of the close-up here.  A thin layer of dripping water with air bubbles sits atop a block of solid ice, the consistency of which looks like a giant kelp forest. 

ice abstracts By going to the photograph area of my website, you can enlarge all the images to see more magical detail.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image@