Ice!

This is the first time I've experienced this.  And it's beautiful.  The snow from yesterday started to melt last night and in the early hours of the morning, the temperature dropped low enough to freeze the melt water again on top and around... well... everything!  I took a load of pictures, so here are some of the better ones:

The barbed wire wasn't so tough once the ice smoothed everything over.

The trees were covered with ice.  A thin layer just coating all of the branches.

The wire fences were also covered.  It was incredible to see everything just covered with ice.

It gave almost everything an eerie skeletal look - especially the trees.  The rest of the family here are used to all of this, so it wasn't as exciting for them - more of a scary thing as if all of this ice builds up to a certain extent, it can crush houses and fell trees.  I posted a picture on my Instagram account a couple of weeks ago of some pine trees on the way to town that had been quite literally bent over from the build up of ice on them.  The tops of the trees were nearly touching the ground.  Most of them had snapped in half due to the weight, but a couple were left standing...  pretty much.

I think it's great and I can't wait to see if it'll build up only a little bit more.  The Catch 22 is that I won't be able to get safely to the places I want to take pictures if it does.

It's going to be 26 degrees Fahrenheit tomorrow at noon.  For you, the Briton, that's -3 degrees.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Peace.

America. (Again).

So my wifey and I have been in the States now for a week and a half.  In that time we've done a fair amount of things and we're pretty tired.  I've had my flu vaccine, passed my theory and practical driving tests to get my license, applied for more jobs than I can remember and caught up with most of our family over here.  It's been a lot of fun, but I can't help but feel like I'm only going to relax properly when I've got a job!  I feel pretty guilty about not having anything coming in right now and I know it's only been 10 days, but I'm really itching to start working again and seeing a little income.

It's been a good while since I've posted anything.  Not having the internet at home to travelling to then having limited access to the internet again had somewhat hampered my posting amount.  Hopefully it'll sort itself out soon.  I just need to get on top of it again.

Having said that, I brought out the camera last night because it has been snowing.  I thought I'd take some long exposure shots and exercise my creative muscles.  It's been a while.  They don't really require any explanation; they are long exposure shots of various trees and buildings along the road:

This morning I thought it'd be nice to try and capture some of the more delicate things the snowfall brings.  Busting out the macro extension tubes, I got a couple of nice icicle pictures.

And a shot of some squirrel prints leading up to the tree in the front garden.

It's been nice getting to spend time with my wifey's family - my family - but I can't help but feel a little guilty that I haven't got a job yet.  As I said, I think that once I have a job and once I get a day off from that job; I'll feel like I've earned it and I'll be able to enjoy it a little more.  It's still cold here and nothing has quite kicked off yet.  Once the spring rolls in and it starts to warm up, things will get a little more lively.

Peace.