Locked in Ice ... Photo Intense!

On Saturday we got a bit of freezing rain, which coated all the trees in glittery finery.  It was pretty, and I took a few photos in our backyard.

 

 

My favourite white pine, which is a great privacy screen from my backyard neighbour.

 

Another neighbour's beautiful big birch tree looked amazing (centre background).  This tree never fails to delight me :)

 

 

But the rain kept falling, the temperatures fell below 0C and stayed there.  The ice kept forming.  Yesterday, things looked a little less pretty, and more .... hmmm ... sinister.

 

 

The beautiful birch tree, which I love to see in all the different seasons, has been destroyed by the ice.  Tops all broken off by the weight of the ice.  It was so sad to see its broken bones stabbing into the dark morning sky.

 

Everything is locked in ice.  Not a breath of air is moving even the tiniest of branches.  Frozen solid.

 

 

My own pine tree has taken another beating.  Where it lost a limb in a wind storm in the summer, another limb has been lost to this ice storm.

 

 

Broken trees are everywhere in our neighbourhood.  The sound of chainsaws fills the air.

 

 

My pine's limb has crashed again into my old lilac bush.

 

 

The entire pine tree looks like it's being ripped in two.

 

Smaller branches have been ripped out of the trunk and lie frozen into the ground.

 

All the whiteness on the tree is ice, not snow.  I tried to shake the branches to break off some of the ice, but not one little shard of ice fell to the ground.  Nothing will end its agony until the sun can melt it off.

 Hang in there old pine, hopefully today we'll see clear skies and sun to help you heal.

 

As sad as this makes me, I couldn't resist slipping and sliding around on top of the thick crust of ice to take a few pictures.  Everything has changed from ordinary to extraordinary ...

 

The weathervane atop the garden shed ... no wind will turn it today.

Towering poplar behind us ... looking a little droopy :[

 

Ice is thick on every stalk, every branch, every piece of wire ...

 

Even a bit of chicken wire becomes an art form.

 

 

 

 

a tiny rose hip transformed to glass crown

 

Tiny leaves encased in crystal.

 

This is what the pine tree is holding on every needle.

 

Coneflowers

Burning Bush

Amazing ice sculptures.

 

The evergreen in the front is holding up a bit better than the pine in the back.

Just the very tippy top is starting to be pulled over.



Weeping Pea looks beautiful encased in ice, but so brittle.  The steps are so precarious and no amount of salting melted the ice, as the rain drizzled down most of yesterday.

 

 

Worst of all was that our family Christmas dinner was cancelled yesterday.  My nephew was going to host it this year, and they had no power.  Our power has been flickering on and off for two days, but thankfully it's holding on (although the hydro wires are heavy with ice too).   We all would've had to travel a fair distance on the highways, and although I know the highways were probably the safest route (we have an amazing fleet of snow & ice removal vehicles here in the GTA), the risk was still to great for anyone to want to venture out of town.  I heard emergency vehicle sirens continuously while I took these photos ... I can't imagine the accidents out there.

 

 So we all stayed put.  At least all I had to deal with was enough scalloped potatoes to feed 20 people, two dozen mincemeat tarts and a large green salad.  My sister had a 20-lb turkey roasting in the oven and no one coming to eat it :[ 

 

Hope your weather is safe for your travelling this week.  We'll be staying snug inside ... maybe this little black squirrel would like to join us?

 

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Wendy