Winter was done and over with over 3 weeks before. April 1st Foolishness had come and gone. But the Yankee rebels from Texas decided to have some reverse Winter fun and provided Eastern Ontario a blast from the Winter Past 3 weeks into Spring and it was a blast.
First snow then followed in the evening by freezing rain. By Friday morning the power was out and the countryside was coated in a glass-like glazing of ice. Overnight the trees became so thickly coated they bowed and bent over if not broke.
The morning alternated between freezing rain and clear spells
The only sound to be heard was the snap crack and pop of tree limbs breaking and then the crash of branch and ice to the ground. This ocurred every 10-15 second when the freezing rain resumed – a little less often in the clear spells. On could see and hear why the power was out. And the crashing limbs and ice were dangerous – one big branch fell not 3 feet away and showered me with shards of ice and snapped branches. Without thick gloves and heavy winter coat I would have been a bloody mess.
But the ice glazed panorama was enchanting.
[iframe src=”http://pixofcanada.com/wows/icepan.html” width=’800′]
Everywhere ice coated trees, roads, fences, mailboxes – everything. It had the look of magic. But as sudden falling limbs proved so crashingly – the day also had a feeling of danger if you were careless. But the trees, bushes, shed, road – each one had its own enchanted coating.
Soon I found myself rushing from one lilac bush whose Spring buds were ice glazed to the flower bed that just started showing some greenery but now was frost encrusted:
One could not help but be astonished by all the varied forms the ice had sculpted for the countryside. Truly it was as if one were transported to Susanna Clarke’s Magic World of Faery from the novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I found antlers in the sumac and ice weeds all over the yard. There were bushes bowing and kneeling before one in strange frost gilded postures. One felt empowered.
[iframe src=”http://pixofcanada.com/wows/icebush.html” width=’800′]It was as if one could create one’s own reality and so I did.
Ice Art
During the course of the day the Sun would alternate with small shower of ice and freezing rain grayy to the cool touch and fog encrusted sky slowly descending and reaching in. It was mystically magic and soon one was conjuring up scenes of wonder:
What was remarkable was to see all the emerging Spring colors coated with crystal, magnified and enhanced. It was as if the gods of Winter and Spring were openly contending across the fields and valleys. Suddenly subdued silver and white colours began to re-emerge as tan and ochre hues as the day got warmers with Suns ascension at near dusky. Warmth brought new rich colors across the hillsides:
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Despite being ice locked and chillingly cold that evening and night, Spring finally sprung through Winter’s Ice Shell and bewitched the countryside in Eastern Ontario.