Picture of the day - December 7, 2007

"Ice Flowers" courtesy of a Canadian Ice Storm

Image courtesy of Manu Keggenhoff. A blast of winter weather has finally made its way into my neck of the woods near Abingdon, Virginia, but our Canadian friends have been shivering through frigid temperatures and dealing with the snow and ice that go along with them for some time now. The winters are rather long and cold up in the "Great White North", but I suppose the hardy folks who live there are used to it and really know how to get around and do the things they need to do even when the weather is at its worst. Today's picture features a winter wonderland of snow and ice that our friends up north were treated to just a few days ago. One of my most vivid childhood memories is of a scene much like the one featured in today's picture. I was around five or six years old, and we were living in rural Amelia County, Virginia when a bad winter storm left us with about six inches of snow covered with a blanket of crystal-clear ice. When the sun came up the next morning, the view out the living room window took my breath away... Every tree, twig and blade of grass, indeed every single object in the great outdoors was covered with a thick coating of ice. The sharply-angled and super-bright early morning sunbeams made the "ice flowers" all around us glow and shine like nothing I had ever seen before or since, creating what was without a doubt one of the most magnificent and magical scenes I have ever experienced. I can even remember how I was able to "skate" around the yard on top of the ice-covered snow without falling through even once - quite a feat since I slipped and fell on several occasions! I find it rather intriguing and somehow comforting that a picture of a scene from a land that is so far away can bring back memories from so long ago, but those memories are still with me some 40 years later - and they are just as strong and vivid as ever. Few scenes on planet earth are as spectacular as the remnants of a "bad" winter storm, and few memories are as sweet as the ones from early childhood. And it's even better when they go hand-in-hand!     Visitor Comments... Name: Cheria (Your Sweetie) Town: Abingdon, VA Brrrrr Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! They are welcome to all that cold.   Click here to comment on this picture.   Visit the POTD Archives for previous "Pictures Of The Day"!     Submit a photo of your own!            Why I publish the "Picture of the Day"