Mercury Glass Ornament

Ten years ago, on December 9th, there was a remarkable ice storm here that entertained me for hours as I roamed with my camera. These images are just a very small look at the many pictures that I captured as I was wandering on Cloud Nine.

This first picture is a native shrub. Beautiful, particularly in winter, when it is without its leaves but, oh those wonderful scarlet berries! It is Winterberry (Ilex verticillata), a species of holly that is native to eastern North America in the US and southeastern Canada.

Ice, ice everywhere. Here it tries to drip from the yellow-green, twisted pairs of needles of a Virginia Pine tree (Pinus virginiana). Another native plant in the “neighborhood” here.

Ice dripping from the red branches of Blueberry (Vaccinium). Looking closely you can see the buds that will, in a number of months, turn into the flowers of the Blueberry bush.

My favorite find in all my strolling was what appears, to me to be a mercury glass ornament in the shape of a pinecone.

Why be normal. I adore ice storms and snow. Why be normal indeed!

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Ice Storm

Ice on the Blueberry bushes

A storm crossing the country. Menacing with flooding, deep snow, tornadoes, large hail, and for me a thick coating of ice. It arrived last night and lasted through the morning, coating everything with a thick layer of slick wet dangerous beauty. Every now and then the power went off for but a short second or two. So far, tonight, I’ve escaped a power outage.

Heavy laden branches of Gray Dogwood

The ice created noises, strange to me, sounding as if there was a huge someone in the woods breaking large branches with big, “SNAP!” noises. The Gray Dogwood trees in the picture above were a part of that noise making, snapping right in half after I took this picture. The road going down the mountain hasn’t been checked. I’m hoping there aren’t any large trees that suffered that, “SNAP!” sound in a louder rendition. Maybe a chainsaw will be required? I hope not.