beautiful cold

I am not the type of person who finds much to appreciate in the bitter cold winter months. However the girl in me likes all things sparkling and shiny. The first day after a snow fall and the world looks like a giant marshmallow covered wonderland. And when the sun hits it just right, it sparkles! I appreciate that. 

And when the sun finally comes out of exile and shines it's beautiful light on the long icicles hanging from the eves. I appreciate that! We just came out of a deep freeze. 16 or 17 days below freezing, and now we hit our much deserved January thaw! These pictures were taken the day before the thaw started. We had ice and snow sticking off the house about 2 feet and then it started it's beautiful icicle formations from the edge of that. Some were under the icy overhang.

The view from my kitchen window. 

 This one is eye level. you can see the longest of the icicle formations. Before it was all said and done this one was about a foot longer than shown.  Directly behind the brown bottle, the ice is encasing the main electrical service wires coming into the house.  When J went out to clear some of this on Saturday,  the whole gutter came down. It was a huge long block of ice. Fortunately when it fell there was no damage done.