When I returned home from my walk today, I noticed a small marvel of ice formations: on my way into the shed, I looked down and saw a mini landscape of frozen globules under the roof line, rising up and descending to the lightly frozen grass inside.
Down on my stomach (I was wearing waterproof jacket and pants, essential for photographing in winter snow), I nearly laughed with amazement and pleasure at the fat little spheres, piled one on another, catching light. The shapes built up....
....and they dropped down...
...and they rose up singly, as a hand waving high above a crowd.
The ice even climbed up, helter skelter, alongside a rock.
It encased single blades of grass in a glittering package, which gives me the opportunity to share this apt quote by Henry Miller, via my friend, the artist Leonard Dufresne:
The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.
A final tiny wonder was this bit of icicle, an inch long, dangling by a delicate spider thread, twisting in the light wind, sparkling in the light.
*click the images to see them enlarged in more wondrous detail.
Delight!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Martyn, it was a delight to me too; made for a happy day.
DeleteLovely, these are wonderful. What a fine eye for detail you have.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, and thank you for the link to the little book on Islamic patterns. It happily found it's way into my stocking...
ReplyDeletethanks deborah, and how nice that you got the Islamic design book. I hope you enjoy it.
DeleteAs so often happens with your blog Altoon, you bring my attention to some nuanced detail and I go away with a little more wonder. I listened to a radio piece the other day about perceptions of winter. One detail that stuck in my mind was that the ferny patterns made by frost on windowpanes are rare these days. The ice crystals grew, so to speak, on the uneven surfaces of artisanal glass. Modern window glass is too smooth. But you have found ice sculptures en plain air! Even on spider's silk!! I go away with a skip in my step after seeing this.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Blorgie. As for the frost on windows, when I got my new double glazed windows, gone along with the cold air were the marvelous frost patterns; the cost of progress I guess.
DeleteDelightful indeed to walk your path and see with your eye. lately I've become interested in Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging...very sparse, asymmetrical and stripped down meditations on plant life in a flat basin. I find myself on my walks noticing interesting branches, vines, dried seed casings that i previously passed right on by.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Cecilia. Doing ikebana sounds like a great way to open your eyes to new ways of seeing plant life.
DeleteIce marvels indeed; like moss, these are whole worlds unto themselves. Such an eye for detail you have, Altoon. Bravo!
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