iced in

Our severe cold snap (by Irish standards) continues. Tonight is supposed to be the coldest night we’ll experience during this period. Here in the West we’ve had two days of gorgeous sunshine, but the temperatures have not risen above freezing. All the snow that fell a few days ago is still on the ground.

This means the roads in my area are dangerous to drive on, so we’ve doing as little of that as possible.

Today I managed to get to the woods after a slow, careful drive. It was dazzlingly beautiful, although the tips of my fingers went numb as I tried to take photographs (I was using my transformer gloves: now they are fingerless, now they are mittens!).

I was particularly entranced with the structure of the ice on the leaves and branches, which is incredibly cool. The above picture is one example.

Hopefully, by next week we’ll be over the worst of the freezing conditions. Although, this weather does allow for some stunning photographs (if your hands are up for it…).