Winter Can Be Beautiful

This morning I awoke to an ominous announcement on the radio:

Warning: Freeze Fog

I was pleasantly surprised to back out of my garage into a true winter wonderland (ignoring the filthy piles of plowed snow that still line all of the streets and parking lots, of course). My father sent me this picture of his backyard and the protected stream behind it.

I got a closer shot of our crabapple tree with the camera built into my Blackberry.

Each branch is coated with ice. More delicate ice forms spikes along the branches, each resembling a stack of the snowflake nonpareils  sold to decorate baked goods. The effect inspires and requires no plowing. I suspect it will be gone by the afternoon.

I vote that we replace snow with freeze fog in upcoming winters.