Glaze

This type of weather is usually reserved for January or February in our part of the world, but that arctic air that tampered with almost everyone's weather these past few days caused an early Silver Thaw at Hillside Farm.

It is treacherously beautiful out there; I almost twisted my ankle walking across our gravel driveway with the wheelbarrow full of firewood.

Everything looks shimmery and heavy and cold to the marrow.

As beautiful as it is, trust me when I say that ice days aren't nearly as much fun as snow days.

This sweet little Rufous Hummingbird and her rival/friend continue to linger, despite the cold. Since they like to perch on my clothesline so much (I assume due to its close proximity to the feeder), I've dubbed it my year-round, dual-purpose clothesline. There's not much chance I'll be using it for drying laundry any time soon, and I would have usually taken it down at least a month ago, but as long as they continue to perch in front of my kitchen window, it is going to stay up. Click on the picture to get a closer look.