Winter Wonderland

We are enjoying a temporary "thaw" - actually, as I write this, we are back to winter. The last couple of days, however, the temperatures hovered around the freezing point which felt wonderful! I even saw people running about town without hats or coats on! Yesterday morning, the warmer air temperatures combined with the frozen, snowy ground created a dense fog. As the fog slowly lifted, a layer of thick ice had covered all of the trees. The sun sparkled so beautifully on it all before melting it. These pictures, taken hastily from our back patio don't quite do it justice: (Note the pheasant in the bottom picture - we have tons of them in the surrounding prairies. Dinner, anyone?)