Frozen Fog Creates Fantasy Landscape!

This is what happens after 2 days of fog, virtually no wind, and temperatures in the 20's.
I love this scene that I can see from our dining room that I use as my art studio. We placed finch feeders in the near flower bed. A large hopper style feeder is hanging in the Prairie Fire crab apple tree along with a smaller wire feeder. The junkos appear to enjoy the lilac hedge and the drift of snow that goes through it.

Earlier today I hid behind the burning bush just beside the dining room window. I caught a gold finch at the feeder. I had not seen them since fall and there appeared to be no activity at these niger thistle sacks all winter. I was delighted to see birds feeding there this weekend. When I grabbed the binoculars for a better look, I saw the familiar markings of the gold finch. They have their winter plummage now which blends in with the neutral landscape much better than their brilliant summer yellow. While composing this post, I've been glancing out the window. Several junkos have gathered under the tree where they glean the seeds fallen from the feeder. And there is a surprise guest in the tree. After a long absence, there is a mourning dove!

We have regular visits from cardinals and blue jays. Their color is spectacular against the snow.

On Saturday we awoke to a different kind of winter wonderland. The sun was shining brightly after a foggy night. Instead of a delicate layer of frost, there were spikes of frost on everything. I didn't get out until mid day and the sunshine was warming surfaces enough to cause the frost feathers to fall off and were scattered on the ground under the trees.

These are the heads of sunflowers that I am now calling "Feather Flowers".