Hoar Frost

When I looked out the windows this morning, all the trees were covered with white. At first I thought snow must have fallen during the night. But as I looked at the world around our house I realized that everything was covered with

Hoar Frost!

When hoar frost forms, it doesn’t last long. By noon most of it was gone. As I gazed with joy at the white coated world outside I wondered what conditions caused hoar frost to form. So I looked it up.

{hoar frost} forms when the water vapor in the air comes into contact with solid surfaces that are already below freezing point. Ice crystals form immediately, and the ice continues to grow as more water vapor is frozen. On a still night, it can grow well on tree branches, where the surface temperature is unlikely to rise above zero for several hours.

— What is Hoar Frost and How Does It Form blog post

Such a mundane cause for such wondrous beauty.

I donned my boots and coat and went out with my camera to make closeup photographs of the hoar frost in our neighborhood before it disappeared. It was a lovely walk.

Maybe the desire to make something beautiful is the piece of God that is inside each of us.

— Mary Oliver, Devotions

Whenever I slow down to look closely at the world around me I discover graceful scenes of beauty that are hiding in plain sight. All I need to do is slow down and look with soft eyes at the scenes all around me.