Sunday, December 23, 2007

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Come, it's time for a walk. It's been awhile and we're getting lazy. Wrap up nice and warm though, it's minus 5 degrees C. It's still freezing, but fortunately that cold north-easterly wind has gone and the sun is shining.

But before we go for a walk, let's go into the garden first, shall we? See what happens when you don't winter clean the garden?
Beautiful isn't it? No, it hasn't snowed, what you're seeing is the wonderful result of 3 consecutive foggy evenings followed by 3 nights of frost. Yes, that's right, it's frozen mist that has turned the dull and grey outside into this sparkling, magical faeryland. Let's look a bit closer, shall we?

It really is magical, don't you think? Don't you just love the "ferns" of ice on one of the windows of the Victorian greenhouse? It's truly breath taking what a bit of ice and frozen mist can do.
Come, let's go. Have you got everything? Don't forget your gloves, it really is cold.
This is the house of one of my neighbours, just take a close look at that hedge.
The trees look gorgeous, don't you think? It looks like as if they are all covered in a fine layer of pearls and diamonds.
And the branches are completely covered in diamonds and pearls, not just on top but on the underside too.
The ice is white too, normally it's transparent but now it looks like frozen milk with a sprinkling of sparkles.
It's great to be out and about in the countryside don't you think? It's such lovely weather for walking but for other outdoor activities too.
Very quintessentially Dutch this, just like in the paintings of all those old Dutch masters. Well, I hope you liked the walk, I'm off, getting my skates on! ;-)
copyright 2007: Y.E.W. Heuzen

A garden without trees scarcely deserves to be called a garden.
Henry Ellacombe (1790-1885)

31 comments:

Naturegirl said...

Yolanda there cannot be anything more magical than when the fairies paint our gardens with magical sparkle as you demonstrate with your beautiful images!
May the spirit of Christmas leave its rich blessings in the hearts of you and yours! hugs NG

Anonymous said...

Gister was een echt genietdagje! En vandaag? Het is een heerlijke temperatuur en lekker zonnig, het lijkt wel lente. We worden echt verwend zo vlak voor kerst.

Je tuin zag er prachtig uit!

Libbys Blog said...

We too have had some beautifull frosts, I think if you can't have snow a heavy frost will do!
Merry Christmas to you all.

Carol Michel said...

The frost and fog have certainly turned what it is always a beautiful place (your garden) into a magical place. I love a nice walk on a brisk day through a beautiful garden. Thanks for letting us come along on the walk with you!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Carol, May Dreams Gardens

Barbara said...

Beautiful pictures of a beautiful natural phenomenon! Enjoy this magical world!
Merry Christmas and all the best wishes to you and your family!
Barbara

Lis vom Lindenhof said...

Wunderschön und genau so sah es bei uns die letzten Tage auch aus. Ich habe ebenfalls Fotos gemacht, aber die werde ich erst nach Weihnachten posten.
Schönen 4. Advent
LG Lis

Whyite said...

Its amazing what winter and frost will do for the looks of things. They look so different than they do when it was summer. Beautiful!

Andrea's Garden said...

Hello Yolanda, beautiful walk. Thanks a lot. We have had the same beautiful views for the last week and I am glad I don't winter clean either. :-) Wishing you and your family Happy Holidays and a Great New Year 2008. Andrea

Anonymous said...

The "ferns" of ice are beautiful. How did you do that?

Karin said...

Your winterwonder land looks amazing! Merry christmas and happy new year to you and your cats!

Shirley said...

Hi again, Yolanda :-)

I so agree about the magic that frost can do to our trees, rivers and gardens. Thanks for sharing yours. Our temps bounced back up to 7 deg C today so no frost here tonight.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Gardening in 2008 :-D

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Yolanda, what a beautiful wonderland you live in. The trees, hedges and frosted glass are all so beautiful. I especially like the spider web that seems frozen in time.

Merry Christmas!

Dawn said...

Oh Yolanda, what a beautiful faerieland indeed! I especially love the spiderweb. Your entire garden looks like a scene from The Nutcracker. So pretty! Have a very Happy Holiday!

Kylee Baumle said...

Oh don't you love it when Nature decides to do some fancy artwork? We've had the hoarfrost a few times here already, too. I don't think I'll ever stop being in awe of it.

My favorite photo is of the spider web.

Sigrun said...

Ich wünsche dir ein frohes Fest und viel Gesundheit im nächsten Jahr!

Sigrun

Angela @ Cottage Magpie said...

Oh, it's just lovely! I love the pretty frosty crystals on everything, and I'm a firm advocate of NEVER cutting down the garden in fall--just for this reason! We haven't had any frost yet where I am, so it's a treat to see yours! Happy Holidays!
~Angela :-)

stadtgarten said...

It's lovely what nature makes out of a winter garden after some days of frost.Here it is the same - everything white.
I wish you and the rest of the Bliss-Team a wonderful christmas-time!
Prettige kerstdagen en groetjes uit Duitsland, Monika

SchneiderHein said...

Liebe Yolanda,
das sind genau die Bilder und Eindrücke, die wunderschön auf Weihnachten einstimmen. Leider ist dieser Zauber bei uns im Garten schon wieder verflogen, aber Bilder und Posts halten solche Ereignisse ja zum Glück länger fest!
Wir wünschen Dir, dem 'Undergardener' & dem Bliss-Team gemütlich, schmusig und verspielte Feiertage.
Liebe Grüße
Silke & Wolfgang

Felicia said...

Wow! Beautiful. Merry Christmas :)

Anonymous said...

Oh, wat was het mooi hè!
Gelukkig hebben we er aardig wat foto's van gemaakt, want het is weer op met de pret.
Ik heb op zowel Lavendeltuin als op Vierkatjes wat foto's gezet!
Wij wensen jullie fijne feestdagen
en een héél goed 2008!
groeten, Marian

Strawberry Lane said...

Love the photographs! And simply cannot resist your adorable cats!

Merry Christmas!

Rusty in Miami said...

The winter wonderland is beautiful.
Merry Christmas

Unknown said...

As always, your photos are exquisite, Yolanda. The frost jewels on plants are exquisite and are perfect examples of winter interest in a more gentle climate than mine. After nearly three weeks of snow covering everything, we've had a big melt and rain and we have much mess as perennial stems are broken down and mushy,but the perennial weeds look fine, thank you! :-) It has snowed just a dusting again tonight (the weather did a yo-yo, down and up and down again). The catchildren think it's all good, because they're resting and waiting for Santa Claws...
A heartfelt joyful Christmas to you, my friend across the miles. :-)

LadyLuz said...

well, I really needed that. Gloves, you said, plus thermal vest and long johns, gloves, hat and boots.....brrrr!

Such a beautiful winter wonderland you have there, the like of which we won't see down here. Which is fine by me - I can always enjoy yours!

Feliz Navidad and Salud

Anonymous said...

prachtige foto's
vooral die spinrag in die rozenboog
Schitterend

wij wensen jullie ook nog een fijne 2e kerstdag en een goede jaarwisseling

lisa said...

I love your pictures!

Anonymous said...

Prachtig was het inderdaad, al dat wit overal op. Zo hou ik erg van de winter. Nu is het helaas allemaal weer gewoon kaal en nat van de regen. Maar goed, de winter is nog maar pas begonnen dus er komen vast nog wel meer van die mooie dagen. Prachtige foto's weer!

Anonymous said...

Hi Yolanda,

Very nice pictures! It looks like a fairy-tale. I love wintwers when they are like that. Than you can scate through the country-side.

Bye,

Bert

Tira said...

Beautiful, romantic fairyland! Have a joyous season and happy new year

Ewa said...

ow... it looks so beautiful when some white is added to our current more-grayish-than-any-other-colored garden...
Happy New Year 2008

Gloria said...

What a pleasure to visit. You always find beauty to share.
We like to ice skate here in Chicago. There are rinks in every neighborhood park and a couple downtown on the lakefront that are always very busy. I will have to take a few pictures to show you.