Wonderlands in Ice

Winter recently paid a visit to Vicksburg, glazing the landscape with a thin layer of ice. I ventured out with my camera and captured a few close up shots of some of the plants in our yard.

Lady Banks Rose on our back yard fence

Bay Magnolia Branches

Christmas Sasanqua blossoms completely encased in ice.

Cleyera Leaves

Holly Leaves

Japanese Yew

Japanese Maple Leaves

As I looked at the above pictures on my computer, I noticed that several of the icicles looked like they had tiny cut glass crystal designs inside them. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them, if you'd like to see them for yourself.

I decided to go back outside with my macro lens and see if I could get a closer look at the ice crystals — and I wasn't disappointed (I hope you will click on the pictures to enlarge them).

It was truly a morning filled with "How Great Thou Art" moments!

Waterford will never be able to create anything as exquisite as these miniature crystals my camera captured inside the icicles ... and I'm so glad I got a closer look.

The Beauty of Icicles

I'd like to thank our gracious hostess Susan, at A Southern Daydreamer, for taking the time to host our "Outdoor Wednesdays."

This time of year is an interesting time to share our outdoors, and I hope you will visit Susan and her friends to see their posts.

The last couple of days, we have been having very cold temperatures here in Mississippi, and yesterday afternoon I noticed some icicles around the waterfall in our courtyard. The temperature was around 34 or 35 degrees, but the icicles were in the shade, and had just begun to melt when I captured them with my camera. It is truly awesome to see, up close, the exquisite beauty of a simple thing like ice on rocks. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them if you'd like.

Waterford and Swarovski will never come close to creating crystal as magnificent as God's crystal!

Even though the waterfall was beautiful with its glaze of ice, I can't wait 'til spring when it looks like this again ...

I know, I know ... wishful thinking ... winter is just beginning, and we've got a lot of cold weather to get through before then. In fact, we have a 70% chance of snow forecast for later in the week.

If the weatherman is right, perhaps I'll have an opportunity to get some pictures of our "snow-covered waterfall" to share for our next "Outdoors Wednesday." Hope to see you then!

P.S. -- When I looked out at our waterfall this morning, I was delighted to see a new accumulation of even prettier icicles than the ones from yesterday afternoon, so I grabbed my camera and got these shots to add this post. If you look closely at the right side of the last photo, you can see a drop of water just beginning to fall. That was my lagniappe for the day!