The Cold

[bunn]

This morning I did not take the dogs out until about 10:30, hoping the ice would have melted and the ground would be easier on delicate greyhound feet.   But it had not.  Helga Saab complained that it was still -2 degrees C despite the brilliant sunshine, and the half-bottle of water I keep in the boot for thirsty dogs had frozen solid.  It has not snowed here, though I can see that the top of Dartmoor is white.  The skies are a brilliant blue.

The milkbottles on our doorstep had frozen.  Gold Top milk expands more than silver top when frozen, and silver top melts faster, so that the silver top had made a little puddle of cream around itself, whereas the gold top had just thrust its contents skywards and left it at that. 

Yesterday I walked near Tavistock with my sister and my mother and her dogs, under a fabulous red-skies sunset, with the folly on Kit Hill silhouetted against it in the distance. This morning, I saw a puddle in a hollow on the hill which had frozen fast and created a huge spiral swirling pattern of air trapped under the ice.  Of course, I didn't bring my camera either time... 

EDIT - on my second walk of the day, I noticed that the snowdrops which were all in bloom have frozen solid - some of them had melted in the sun, drooped and contorted, then re-frozen in strange sad twisted shapes.  There's something strangely violent about such a sudden cold coming on a landscape that was warming and unfolding ready for the spring : it's not like the expected process of going slowly to sleep for the winter : it's more painful and ugly. 

EDIT2: Saturday - And now it IS snowing! Though only an inch or so and it's not so cold.

Comments

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

That last paragraph sounds magical, we have had some fabulous sunsets up here recently too and I love patterns in ice - last winter there were some fantastic ones on our local pond :)

It's jolly chilly up here but the sun is wamr enough that the frost has melted in it now. I'll see whether there is ice on the ponds when I go for my walk later.