The decision I made yesterday to pick that mini-rose in advance of the predicted cold snap turned out to be a great one. This morning, the temperatures made it down to the low 20s and all signs of garden life came to a screeching halt. Indeed, it was so chilly and quiet that you could almost hear the breaking of cell walls as ice crystals had their way with the innards of vegetation, and in the wetlands, the situation was something of the reverse, as ice crystals formed, locked together, and overspread the edges of the still waters. The ice architecture never became very thick, and with the mercury topping the freezing mark by noon, all traces of the skim layer, however intricate architecturally, vanished in the sun. But the patterns were a harbinger of things to come... definitely a harbinger of things to come.