The Deep Freeze.

Parts of Europe are experiencing the coldest winter on record. Scandinavia is no exception. We are officially having an ice-winter, meaning some of our bays, harbors and inlets are frozen over, for the first time in fifteen years.

For the past week, the temperatures have stayed below zero in the days and we entered deep freeze in the nights. The air is very dry and bitterly cold, too cold for comfort. This is the time when breathing becomes uncomfortable and no amounts of clothes can keep us warm enough.

Having been under a heavy blanket of snow now for almost four weeks, nature is effected as well. Birds are suffering and some plants too. Particularly my evergreens look so poor. The leaves of my rhododendron have shrivelled beyond belief, folding into themselves, they have turned into long tread like forms, making the bush look very sad.
My terrace is a very different place, then the one I recall from the long, warm days of summer. That beautiful season is still very far away and can only be revisited in pictures.
However, despite the freezing subzero temperatures, as soon as the fragile sun envelopes my surroundings the way it it does today, I can not help but marvel over the beauty of winter, when it is at its best.

(Please click the images below to enlarge).