Just when I
really wanted to complain one more time about the harsh winter we're enduring
this year, Larry and I found ourselves on the highway recently, oohing and
ahhing about the beautiful layer of hoarfrost that delicately covered every
branch and blade of tall grass in our sight. It looked like a thin coat of
icing or frosting on every surface. I am admittedly a spring sort of person. I
can't wait for the snow to give way to grass and the gentle shades of green
that will make themselves known, but I just couldn't get over the beauty of the
hoarfrost that day. Everything has to be just right in order for hoarfrost to
form, which seems to be a miracle unto itself. According to the online Encyclopaedia
Brittanica, hoarfrost are ice crystals deposited onto objects that are exposed to
the air. Hoarfrost "is formed by direct condensation of water vapour to
ice at temperatures below freezing and occurs when air is brought to its frost
point by cooling." Moisture is the key to the formation of
hoarfrost, in that if you don't have enough moisture in the air, the hoarfrost
can't form. I'm still ready for spring, but in the meantime, I was
reminded on that highway ride to stop, pause and take in the beauty that nature
provides every day.
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