Mary Beth Writes

These photos were taken by Len on Monday in that other time and world that existed before the Trump gorgons mobbed the Capitol. (Gorgons existed in Greek literature. Gorgons are the poisonous siblings with hair of living snakes. Those who beheld them face-to-face turned to stone. Or were killed by being beaten by a fire extinguisher.)

I have been trying to write about that but it is too hard. There is so much that is clear and is informative. You are reading it as much as I am. Blessed be the journalists, right? 

Let’s just go with “Write to your Congresspeople to tell them to DO SOMETHING!” Let’s say that yes, as we already knew, our society, especially law enforcement, is as racist as the Confederacy. And also, this was not a protest that got out of hand. This was a planned attack.

And then - here are some pretty pictures.

Soft rime is a white ice deposition that forms when the water droplets that are in fog or mist freeze to the outer surfaces of objects. Curiously, it usually freezes on the windward side of tree branches, wires, or any other solid objects.

There was little to no wind on Monday, so the rime ice coats nearly everything.

Soft rime is similar in appearance to hoar frost. But rime is formed by vapor condensing to liquid droplets and then attaching to a surface. Hoar frost is formed by direct deposition from water vapor to solid ice. A heavy coating of hoar frost can look like soft rime, but the formation process is different.

I copied and slightly edited this explanation from Wikipedia. I use Wikipedia so much in my life I am one of those who contributes to it. Remember when an encyclopedia cost hundreds of dollars?

Our bistro lights on Monday morning.

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The traffic cones look fake.

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Len walked on the Drumlin Trail.

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If you look closely, you can see that the small tree seems pinkish. I think there were berries on it.

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Do you remember when you first heard about Jack frost painting frost pictures on windows? Remember sitting in the backseat of your family’s car, breathing a peek hole through the frost, so that you could see out?

Frost is ephemeral and so beautiful. I would miss frost if I lived where it was always warm and sunny.

Well, probably I would miss it.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

The drive to Rockford to celebrate the epiphany with Mr. P was absolutely wonderful because of the rime ice that covered everything in sight... In Racine we had none and it didn't begin until I was on 173and had passed through Antioch Illinois... I had visions of being in the land of the Snow Queen, it was beautiful... When Mr. P and I went for an hour walk it was absolutely gorgeous from the vantage point of his subdivision with all it's hills and gangs of 20 or so male turkeys wandering across the yards and streets as if they owned them... The rime ice on the way back home yesterday was even more spectacular than the drive down...

Thank you for explaining the difference between rime and hoar frost. I wondered about that but hadn’t bothered to look it up yet. I have very much enjoyed seeing this beautiful winter wonderland. I keep thinking of The desiderata, it is still a beautiful world and most people have good hearts.

Thanks for the beautiful photos MB and Len, and all you do.

Hmmm. Funny, I don’t miss frost much at all here.
Mary Beth's picture

Hah! I was thinking of your lovely FB Desert at Dawn photos...

Love all the pictures. Thanks for the frost lesson. I learned something !

I learned about hoar frost from an astute teacher in grade school at Trautwein, but I never hear of rime frost. I was awed by the beauty of the frost this week and now I know the name. Thank you for the wonderful pictures, Len, and the explanation, Mary Beth.

Beautiful pictures. Peaceful. Quiet. Will we ever feel quiet again? Patricia

Aaaaahhh...thank you Len, for taking those incredibly beautiful photographs and Mary Beth for sharing them. I needed an "aaaaahhhh moment".
Mary Beth's picture

Oh Brother, don't we all....

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A-Z P is for Procrastination

6/2/2023

Procrastination. Or how the American Revolution was won. 

"You can lead a horse to water but you can't grant him the serenity to accept the things he cannot change.” (Tweet by Bob Golen) 

P is the next letter to write about in this project to write an essay for every letter of the alphabet. Someone suggested Procrastination.

Guess what? I’ve been putting it off.

...

GNTL - So Many Words!

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Grownups Noticing Their Lives - Words!

The month of May might have been above my paygrade. I contributed to a weeks-long writing project in our congregation. I met friends more often than usual to talk and catch up. Two grandkids came for a sleepover last week. Our daughter and her little dog spent last Friday with us. Saturday another grandkid slept over.

GNTL - Kathryn's Garden

5/29/2023

Grownups Noticing Their Lives - Kathryn’s Garden

My friend Kathryn sent some beautiful photos of her garden to me this morning, I asked if I could post them here and she said yes. 

Some of you know Kathryn Rouse so you know this is not a garden-come-lately. She’s been building and growing her garden since, I think, the late 1970’s. The bunny in a hurry is a Bill Reid sculpture.

I think Kathryn's photos are the right frame for the poem.

A-Z Observation

5/24/2023   O is for Observation

Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) was a pre-telescope Danish astronomer who looked at the sky more precisely than anyone before him had done. He was obsessively careful about measuring what he saw and he studied the sky every night he could. To accomplish what he wanted he reinvented and fine-tuned the sky-gauging tools of his era – sextant and quadrant.

You may have seen these tools in paintings of old-time sailors. They would hold them up to their face, look at the stars, figure out where they were in the world.

GNTL - Squirrels & Gardens & the Sonoran Desert

5/18/2023

Grownups Noticing Their Lives

My garden thrives in ignominy.

Yesterday I posted some frugal things I’ve done lately at the Non-Consumer Advocate website. I do this because the kinds of people who try to be frugal are often (not always) people who I wish would come over here and read my website, too. I don’t write too much about frugal strategies but I write lot about values. We are in the same Venn diagram, right?

GNTL - Walk, Mounds, Spirit

Grownups Noticing Their Lives

5/17/2023 

The local TV weather folks talked about ‘a pneumonia front’ for two days. I’d never heard the term before but we all know temps can change fast, right? It’s more generally called life on planet earth. Keep a jacket handy if you can.

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