“The Frost performs its secret ministry, Unhelped by any wind.~ Coleridge

I’m not a lover of winter, primarily because I shun the cold, and the older I become. the harder it is to keep warm. But dogs need walking and my little one is also old so that means regular trips to the outside with her. The night before temperatures dropped to -4C and there was something about the mid morning light which made me take my camera along on the walk down our lane for this sky shot.

The lanes were thick with hoar frost and such a beautiful sight. The melt though was beginning and I would have liked to get closer, steadier and less hurriedly as I took these photos

Hoar frost is composed of tiny ice crystals and is formed by the same process as dew when the temperature of the surface is below freezing point.

The ‘feathery’ variety of hoar frost forms when the surface temperature reaches freezing point before dew begins to form on it [Met Office]

Back in the garden the ice water in the bird bath was already beginning to melt

and in the mini pond where shadows from me and the camera created a high contrast monochrome abstract

and the frosted flowers hung weeping so I picked the last of these chrysanthemums for a ‘Friday Flowers’ vase. Wishing everyone a good weekend especially those still celebrating Thanksgiving.