A freezing spell

Exactly six years ago to the day, there was a freezing spell overnight. It rained over fallen snow, then it quickly froze, encapsulating plants in a sheath of ice. This sort of thing is dangerous for trees, because it makes their branches so heavy that it can split them apart. Back in college, in Vermont, we had a serious freezing spell one winter that broke apart many of the trees on campus; thankfully, this wasn’t that serious. It helped that we were in Virginia at the time, where winters aren’t that rough.

Frozen twig encased in ice. Somewhere in a patch of nature, McLean, VA, USA.

Events

The day our MINI froze over

One winter day, as I finished work late in the evening, about eight o’clock, I went out to the parking lot and saw my MINI looking this:

I hadn’t expected that. It had rained earlier in the day, particularly during lunch and it had continued to drizzle through the afternoon. The evening had brought a freezing spell with it, and all that water had turned to ice, on the ground and in the sky.

What to do? I didn’t have an ice scraper with me, but I remembered someone had given me one of those mini-CDs and I’d put it in the car. After prying the door open, I grabbed it and started scraping off the ice from the windshield. Who knew that thing would do something useful someday? 🙂

It took about half an hour to get the windshield clean and another twenty minutes to warm up the car sufficiently so that it melted the rest of the ice from the windows. I loved every minute of it, in spite of the freezing cold. You know why? Because an unexpected adventure is a chance to experience something different, something extra-ordinary and it’s a welcome thing in my book.

What do you think I did after I got the car started? Did I take the highway and head home fast? No, I took the scenic route and enjoyed my MINI’s wonderful winter handling, with the aid of my winter tires, plodding through the freshly fallen snow and sliding over ice patches. I did a few donuts in the empty parking lot, slid the rear through corners, braked just so I could slide on the empty roads… I still smile when I think of that evening. Fun, fun, fun! 🙂

2003 MINI Cooper S, after a winter ice storm

Places

Winter in Cabin John Park – Part 2

Here are some more photographs taken in Cabin John Park during winter. Enjoy and don’t forget to check out part one if you haven’t seen it already.

Melting snow reveals a twig buried underneath. Washington, DC, USA.

Cut wood, Cabin John Regional Park, MD, USA.

Partially frozen brook, winter, Cabin John Regional Park, MD, USA.

Lichen growing on rotting tree trunk, Cabin John Regional Park, MD, USA.

Places

Winter in Cabin John Park – Part 1

These hot summer temperatures are sure making me look at winter photos in a whole new light… So for the next couple of days, I’ll feature winter scenes from one of the parks that we visited a lot while we lived in the DC area: Cabin John Regional Park. Enjoy!

Thick ice over brook, winter, Cabin John Regional Park, MD, USA.

Moss growing on a tree trunk, winter, Cabin John Regional Park, MD, USA.

Rotten wood, fallen tree trunk, Cabin John Regional Park, MD, USA.

Snow on the ground, Cabin John Regional Park, MD, USA.

In the forest, winter, looking upward. Cabin John Regional Park, MD, USA.

Places

Thinking of colder times

We’ve been hit by a serious heat wave during the past few weeks, with very little rain and ridiculously high temperatures (not normal for Southern Transilvania, where summers used to be a balmy 25-27 degrees Celsius when I was a kid). So I started to think fondly of colder times and gladly contemplated freezing weather — anything to escape the heat.