Winter Wonderland, 1999

One of the benefits (?) of living in the Northern Virginia area is that during Winter storm season, we're always on the dividing line between the snowy north and the rainy south. This frequently leads to ice, and lots of it. We sometimes get snow, which melts during the day and then freezes at night; or we get sleet and freezing rain, which makes a beautiful slippery coating over everything.

On the night of Thursday, January 14th, we got one of those ice storms. Granted, we didn't get a whole lot of ice (just a quarter to half an inch), but what we did get gave a fairy-land like sheen to the whole world.

These photos were taken with a Sony Mavica digital camera in jpeg mode, so some of the details (particularly of some of the smaller tree branches) are a little on the blurry side. Click on an image to get a larger version.

	A close-up of the shrubberies in front of the house.
	Detail of the side of the shrubberies.
	The plum tree on the corner of our lot.
	Detail of the plum tree
	The dwarf peach tree beside the house.
	The ShoeBox encased in ice. (The Badger was in the body shop at the time having some accident damage un-done and getting painted, so we rented a mighty Geo Metro, affectionately known as The ShoeBox). The layer of ice on the windshield was thicker than the windshield iteself.
	Some pine trees across the street.
	Close-up of one of the pine trees across the street.
	The shrubberies beside the house.
	Poor little pine tree across the street.
	The plum tree with the sun hitting the upper branches.
	Tree in the neighbor's yard, with the sun hitting the upper branches
	Close-up of the neighbor's tree.
	View of another neighbor's deck.
	Ice-covered trees.
	The fountain grass in the front yard.
	Some of the ground cover around the pear tree.
	Ice on a fence railing.