Ice-glazed holly

The Groundhog's Day storm actually had a name, Linus, and it also had a bad, bad attitude, since, instead of blessing us with lots more snow, it decided that a change to freezing rain would be fun and maybe even photogenic. Fortunately, that bit of nastiness didn't last too long, and when the sun came up this morning, all we had was a hit-or-miss glaze that sparkled along with the inch or so of powder that fell during the last gasp of the storm. The big Nelly Stevens holly in front of the house bore its thin coating of ice quite handsomely, and the glaze wasn't thick enough to do any damage to tree limbs and power lines. By itself, the mini-ice-storm probably would have ruined the cross-country skiing, but the fresh snow, nestled atop the crust, came to my rescue. As soon as I can get my writing done, I'm going to take advantage of Linus's unexpected gift.