40 Comments

Beautiful and stunning.

Expand full comment

I lived in Scotland and so loved the hoar frost there in the gardens in Fife. Brings back lovely memories of some of the best years of my life. Maine , USA is my home but Scotland and the Isles are my second homes and I am filled with gratitude to have had many years there. Will be back to kiss the ground once more soon I hope. Thank you for these wonderful, inspiring, uplifting photo's.

Expand full comment

I always wondered why it was called hoar frost. The hair connection makes perfect sense. Thanks for sharing these photos.

Expand full comment

Lovely images. Thank you for sharing. 🙏🏼

Expand full comment

Just what I've been doing this morning, too in hoary Scotland. And I am no photographer myself - but who could resist?? Great pictures from your "estate"! ;o)

Expand full comment

Great pics! I had to go out to take snaps of this frozen wonderland here in the Irish midlands a few days ago. The frosted spiderwebs are something else. As a late-blooming photographer myself I have to say it's such a great form in that you can spend time in a contemplative space entirely in the present moment while deepening your observations of and connection to your surroundings. The photos themselves become almost beside the point, though later on they can take one back to that contemplative moment.

It really is a perfect refuge for those who've grown weary of rhetoric and just want to let things at last speak for themselves.

Expand full comment

The hare was wonderful. As were all the other photos.

Expand full comment

so beautiful

Expand full comment

Love the imagery. Beautiful.

Expand full comment
Dec 14, 2022Liked by Paul Kingsnorth

So grateful you shared these. Considered your almsgiving done for the day. Glorious!

Expand full comment
Dec 14, 2022·edited Dec 14, 2022

I live in Florida now, which is nice enough in its own way (and has a great Governor) but I do miss the first frosts and first snows of New Hampshire, and most of all the first hard freeze and "black ice" smooth as silk on our backyard pond. (The pond ice would get whiter as it aged, full of tiny bubbles and cracks.) Most years the black ice happened one bitter cold night, overnight, in mid-December - before the snows began and we would have to shovel to skate. Skating outside with a cold blue sky overhead and a cold blue sky beneath our feet was one of our greatest simple pleasures. Thanks for sharing a bit of Irish winter.

Expand full comment
Dec 14, 2022Liked by Paul Kingsnorth

Nice work. You might like this book by Eleanor Parker - Winters in the World, about winter and the Anglo-Saxons, and the rituals of their year. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/aug/25/winters-in-the-world-by-eleanor-parker-review-a-dive-into-the-anglo-saxon-year

All the best for Christmas and New Year.

Expand full comment

Awesome! I live in Canada, and had never seen hoarfrost until we went home to my wife's family for xmas in Ireland in 2010.

It was the one compensation for the ridiculous weather that year.

Expand full comment

Wonderful pictures all, but I’m still imagining walking that Boreen from yesterday’s post.

Expand full comment

Thank you for sharing your landscape’s life in photos with us. A comfort to see and somehow so precious with blue sky surrounding. Hoar frost is the frozen version of dew, I suppose.

Expand full comment