… nor hail shall keep the postmen from their appointed rounds. I’m not so sure that motto will hold true today. I certainly don’t envy our postwoman. The original saying was actually “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” and was said about 2500 years ago by the Greek historian, Herodotus.
People around here are quite wary of ice storms since the Ice Storm of ’98. During that January over 100,000 people were without electricity. Electricity was not fully restored for more than three weeks. To this day our trees are strictly sheared so as not to cripple power lines.
Ice, not snow, nor frost, glazes the garden white today.
Most people are out shoveling and scraping, but not me. I’m skating around the garden taking photos. We all lead different lives.
Grasses look beautiful sheathed in ice. No worry about damage unlike my White Pine that sadly, alarmingly bows to the ground. I read somewhere it is best to not shake off the branches. I hope the bows bounce back.
I’m happy that I can walk, slip and slide, to work today. Safe travels to those on the roads.
Sources: The Phrase Finder, North Country Public Radio
The Violet Fern 
01/12/2012 at 2:47 pm
Your photographs are beautiful. I hope the ice melts before any snow arrives. Here just a bit farther south we had rain. Evergreens usually bounce back, but they have their limits.
01/12/2012 at 6:42 pm
Kathy we did not get the ice either…lots of wind and rain but we may have snow on the way…lots of cold air….I love the icy pics!!
01/12/2012 at 11:29 pm
We got snow today, with the ice "promised" for tomorrow. I'm not a big fan of freezing rain (I can still see damage from the '98 ice storm around my property), but it does make for gorgeous ice effects on plants. Great photos! -Jean
01/13/2012 at 1:12 pm
Even with so much damage, us gardeners can see the beauty!
01/13/2012 at 1:18 pm
Beautiful photos Kathy but yikes I bet there's a lot of people going to the hospital with broken bones. Keep your feet on the ground.
01/13/2012 at 2:38 pm
What wonderful pictures. We had a sprinkling of frost today and the first sign of any winter weather which is dramatically different to the last two years
01/14/2012 at 10:49 am
Thank you to everyone. I am glad you enjoyed the captures of ice. We are now buried under snow with temperatures expected to dip below 0° F this evening. Winter has finally arrived here!
01/14/2012 at 3:08 pm
What a contrast! Hope your little pine tree has read its textbook, and bounces back gracefully as the ice burden lifts.
01/14/2012 at 10:09 pm
You got quite a bit of ice. Ice misses my garden usually until late winter, but at the Falls, ice like you got is pretty common with all that moisture flying around. I like photos of the ice and yours are very nice, but I bet your pine in not feeling quite as happy about it all.