2010 New Years greetings to everyone. I’m posting some photos taken during the recent days of crystal clear but cold weather (-15C to -26C, 5F to -15F). Its a time when everything seems to come to a frozen standstill, everything except the last remaining moisture in the air which condenses as crystallized ice on all the surfaces. Much of it crystallizes directly in the air causing an endless flow of glittery sparks as it refracts in the golden beams of sunlight in the mid afternoon.

There will not be much to report for a few weeks but I’ll be posting some material from my archives.

These are some images I captured yesterday after a fairly cold evening (-10c) left ice crytal formations around our yard. Reading up on the process of crystallization gave some insight into these amazing forms. The “growth” of crystals is built on a complex layering of structures embedded within structures implying fractal-like behaviors that begin at the molecular level (although there still some mystery surrounding this). The knowledge of artificial crystal production is quite vast yet difficulties in producing the perfect conditions is often cited. This puts a different perspective on my tolerance of the cold weather knowing that it is also the ideal conditions for the delicate process of ice crystallization, a sublime expression of nature formed from one of the most commonly available substances.