Wintry Patterns.

Since New Year's Day we have had glorious sunshine, no more snow but very low temperatures and hard frosts lasting all day. It sounds as if these conditions will last through the week to come.

These two photos are of the strong morning sunlight shining through the voile curtains and frosted glass of the bathroom window. I rather like the patterns it made.

How about this for ice sculpture? The leaves of this variegated grass which grows in our pond look as if they are encased in glass. We usually turn the pump/fountain off at night but have been leaving it on to prevent it freezing up.

The stones edging the pond are also icebound or I might have managed to get a better shot from a different angle.

I do love these frosted leaves. They look so dismal when they are just dead, wet leaves lying on the grass, but a touch of frost gives them quite a different character.
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The birds are out in force, ignoring all health warnings about high cholesterol levels. They are obviously very grateful for everything that is provided for them. I think the prolonged cold days and nights are having an effect, as I haven't seen them so fluffed up for a long time. Some of them look quite misshapen.
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Hope you are all keeping warm and not too inconvenienced by the cold weather. One compensation of being old is that people expect you to hibernate, so I can get away with drinking too many cups of tea and staying indoors to read or sew. However, I have spotted the snowdrops poking through the soil and can't wait for it to be mild enough to start a bit of tidying up around them.