Icicle Sunset Reprise

Icicle Sunset Reprise, originally uploaded by ...escher....

Too exhausted to write much (sorry) so this might be a bit staccato.

1) Congratulations to whoever it was that went up Clougha in crampons right from the car park. I'm impressed!

2) The grouse were flocking together today. I saw a couple of hundred in one group. Never seen that before.

3) Hi to the couple having an argument on the way up! I was sat behind the wall when you started. Highlights include "why do you always have to argue?" (Sounds like me) and "it is interesting, but as time passes we have to do more and more things your way!" They were holding hands further up the path, so it was alright in the end!

4) It has been very cold recently and I wanted to persist in trying to get ice stuck to ice after trying lots of times before. I had made things with sheet ice and snow but not icicles so far this season. These icicles are stuck to the biggest one I found which is underneath the snow. I got these icicles from the same place that I made this almost exactly a year ago. What was interesting was the biggest one (the one used as the base) grew in the same place and seemed to be the same size as the largest one I found there last year.

5) This was a lot more taxing than it looks. The sculpture itself wasn't too hard but the place where the icicles were was up a hill along a steep slope and I could only carry three icicles at once or they would break. And the place where I positioned it was up yet another hill. So I did trip after trip up and down hills carrying icicles, camera and so on.

6) My water bottle froze and I am very thirsty!

7) It might have been a good idea to take some food.

8) It isn't always a good idea to finish the sculpture early and then wait several hours for the sunset to photograph it. Inactivity and freezing temperatures are not a good mix. It was proper cold! So cold I couldn't grip the focussing ring on my lenses. And hot aches really, really hurt!

9) It was a beautiful day and the snow, blue skies and views across to the mountains were sensational.

10) Well every list is normally 10 long (or one hundred but I am not writing that much) but as my brain is about to cave in and I need to cook dinner now I'll say goodbye!

11) Oh and hello to the chap who took a picture on his phone. Hope you had a nice walk.

12) Isn't there something I am supposed to be doing?

13) What is this land art stuff all about anyway?

14) Anyone fancy a beer?

15) Low blood sugar schmo blood sugar

16) Does anyone want to cook me something?

17) Oh and I found a perfectly formed ice arch with a little icicle in the middle. It froze along a bit of grass hence the arch but I destroyed it trying to get it out before I could get a picture.

18) Can anyone hear an echo?

19) Wasn't there something I was supposed to doing?