Saturday, December 7, 2013

Autumn Cryogenics And Other Preservations


The Icepocalypse cometh. Media hyperbole aside, an unseasonably wintery storm came through Dallas Thursday night and indiscriminately encased all things in crystal.

Friday morning I went on an expedition searching out nature's icy beauty with my best friend around our frozen neighborhood.


I have been experiencing the most visually lovely autumn I can remember since leaving the Midwest in my teens. Most years our Texas summers are so dry that the trees shrivel up in November browns. This was a substantially more precipitous year, and the colors are bleeding from the trees. The ice storm cryogenically preserved the electromagnetic spectrum of the season.





The ice blanket is only a few millimeters thick, but its collective weight caused impressive bends and turns.





To be sure, casualties were abound.



It is an incredible sight to observe every tiny detail encapsulated. I imagine how long it might take anyone but nature to paint each surface and curvature with equally meticulous care.




Drop by drop of excess precipitation was stopped cold before it could escape in gravity.






Entombed under a plate of frozen particles I could make out the semblance of familiar fall shapes.







Even bundled in layers, a warm drink over breakfast was necessary to quiet shivers and thaw frigid trigger fingers.


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