This version of Winter Wonderland feels colder than most arrangements, in a remote and sparkling way that sounds like a bright subzero day.
Glistening snow is indeed a beautiful sight― one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen was a lightless section of an Ontario cave, which, when I swept my headlamp into its depths, revealed itself via sudden glittering refraction to be lined with ice crystals. The flashing crystals were so sharply geometric that it was hard to believe they were made of water, but one melted when I touched it. (My disbelief was quite unscientific; geologically, ice is as much a mineral as quartz.)
I’m staying with my grandparents in Wales right now, and the wetter climate has combined with a cold snap to generate crystalline hoarfrost along their town’s branches and blades of grass.
It’s beautiful, but maybe not good for the local living things. Is that grass happy about being covered in a mineral instead of dewdrops?
If you’re seeing this kind of winter beauty, you’re probably also living somewhere where the air hurts your face. I like the way winter weather makes me aware of my own embodied aliveness… up to a point. I don’t mind cold air burning in my throat, nor the kind of chill where my nose hairs start to stick together, but I take offense when ice crystals start forming on my eyelashes. I find mentioning these experiences to be an interesting measure of the winters someone has experienced; some people nod along and others respond, with horror, “wait, ice on your eyelashes?”
I wish there existed something like the Beaufort Wind Scale’s evocative specifications (“Gentle breeze: leaves and small twigs in constant motion; light flags extended”) to describe the features of cold temperatures. Perhaps the scale would depend too much on wind and wetness, which matter both for the formation of frost crystals and the human experience of temperature. In Canada, extreme temperatures are reported with two measurements, first the thermometer reading and then either a humidity adjustment if it’s hot or a wind chill adjustment if it’s cold.
Anyway, whether the place you’re in is wintry or not (if you’re reading this from the southern hemisphere, I hope you’re enjoying the summer) I hope you’re able to wonder at something beautiful in the land around you.
Enjoying seasonal sights,
Tessa