A hoarfrosty treat

Fog has settled in on southern Wisconsin, and it’s causing some slower-than-usual driving conditions, but has given us good reason to slow down and smell the air where roses will be in six months.  Stopping on the side of the road is a little dicey in winter…you never know if you’re going to drop a wheel in a ditch hidden by a clever snowplow driver.

Yesterday I spoke in a small congregation an hour north of Madison, and I took the back roads home, all audio off, just the white noise of the heater fan and a little road buzz.  Wife 1.1 has a new GPS in Blue Car, the one I bought her for Christmas, and I gotta say it’s pretty sweet. It makes my old GPS look like a Commodore 64 stuck to my dashboard with bailing wire.

The back roads were lovely, especially where the wind hadn’t knocked the hoarfrost off the trees and grass and other skeletal vegetation.  I especially like Queen Anne’s Lace (D. carota), which is lovely in the summer, even though it’s a weed, but in the winter it catches ice crystals and blooms all over again.

The area south of Baraboo has a few old apple orchards, long since productive,  but I think the deer like the trees that survive.  These apples were ten feet off the ground and offered a welcome splash of color. Indeed, I spotted them while driving, the only objects containing any color in a gray scale landscape.  So I stopped.

Bear in mind I was in Wife 1.1’s Corolla, and I was wearing dress shoes (leather soled even) and a suit.  I was stranded in a citified car, the snowshoes resting quietly in the back of the Element. I had a down parka with me, so I pulled off my tie, pulled on my parka and gingerly picked my way up a snowbank.

Anything for the shot.

Wish I had my SLR.

My feet eventually warmed up.

Respectfully submitted,

Canoelover