Early morning crystal lights

As the sun rose this morning, it revealed a world glittering with crystals - everywhere. A heavy frost this time - and so pretty. These two old teak benches show how the grass looks like snow in front of them as does the pine in the background... but underneath, where the grass is protected it's green and glossy, not lit with crystal fires of  early sun's rays.

Everywhere I looked the ground was frosted and the dogs tracks as they wandered around checking for last night's visitors, showed up green against the iced grasses.

Unfortunately the pond plants - the tropical ones - really bit the dust and will have to be hauled out and the pond cleansed. But I learned from a fish expert today that I don't need to remove the fishes from their cold little home. They'll be fine with my bubbler in place and all the gunk removed... who knew?

This expert also gave me some tips for watching the pump for the bubbler and offered to show me how to clean the filter come spring as well. Such a nice fellow...

And on the way home I took some back roads, which I like to do - so no frost this afternoon, but some neat pictures which I'll post in the next few days and tell some little stories about them...

Do wish I'd caught one of the two hunters (it's deer season in Ontario right now) who passed by me on this tiny back road, suddenly stopping beside a farm gate then retrieving a garbage bag from the back of their truck. Then they squatted in the middle of the road. It took me a minute - but then I realized that the orange garbed dudes were scooping up corn that had spilled out of the farmer's hopper and were going to use it to bait  the deer.... they didn't know what I did - the conservation officers were just ahead of them on the road, watching for just such illegal activity. I drove on.