More on Cryoprotection

Cryoprotection intrigues me still ... I can't let it go ... I don't think I've quite wrapped my head around it entirely, as reflected in this post ...

Diatoms (single celled algae with silicate cell walls) in the ocean release ice-binding proteins to prevent ice crystals forming (their own antifreeze molecules), which would restrict their growth and motility. Diatom abundance and composition in the ocean therefore also affects the structure, melt (light penetration) and formation of sea ice. Massive blooms of diatomic algae in the ocean make for thinner ice sheets, as well as more abundant biomass for the base of our planet's food chain. (Good and bad at the same time? Ooh, maybe we mistakenly exercise 'judgement' on what IS without any need to - it just IS, it has no inherent quality.)

And lakes too, of course! Excess algal growth can inhibit the formation of ice cover ... and thereby alter/influence what happens to other life forms in other habitats ... that's how ecosystems are!

It's interesting contemplating how such small, single celled organisms can alter major environmental systems! I'm ever-wowed by the complexity of nature, and the way we 'judge'  or name it.

Traveling Scatter-brain

Oh my! Whilst meaning to warm up my coffee in the microwave, I started placing my mug into the nearest cabinet. This is what being busy and tired and frazzled does - hope it doesn't get any more scatty than this.

Oops, then I set off without the very item I'd arranged to drop off at a friend's home!

We're on our way to claim Isfryn for ourselves, and explore a little of our new village in the next week. Posts to my blog may not be as frequent as in the past, as we try to establish Internet, and make ourselves a temporary home, using a borrowed air mattress and our sleeping bags.

Please AirFrance, no delays ... 🤞

Light and Dark

Early morning sunlight intersects with the remains of night's darkness to create this dramatically beautiful scene on Arrowhead. A sight to cherish.

Interconnectedness

“In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

This is the inter-related structure of reality.”

― Martin Luther King

Letter from Birmingham Jail: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Struggle That Changed a Nation: Library Edition

Icy Fascination

When we have a few days of warmer temperatures (above freezing), I don't feel quite as bitter about seeing ice formations around me. I can even appreciate them!

These icicles look like meat claws for making pulled pork

Icy slats and a leaf

Warm nuts melting ice

Pattern Puzzle Solution

 Yesterday's detail:

is from this photo

 which is my sweater's splayed out tassels across my thigh

Pattern Puzzle

Can you give me your best guess as to what this photo is ...

I'll relieve you of your frustration tomorrow 😊

Surging Ahead

Oi, our heads are positively spinning! The day after we closed on our house in Massachusetts, we were informed that we can close on our new home in Wales on Jan 22 ... and so we will!

We're flying to the U.K. next week for a short visit to get some odds and ends tied up, to sort out utilities and services, village amenities, cars, etc. We'll basically 'camp' in our unfurnished home for the short time we're there, and maybe order a fridge and dishwasher. Oh, and conveniently, the visit will be just in time to buy more British chocolates, seeing as I've run out of these particular soy-free delectables ...

  

 
      

We've been aching for this momentum to start, trying to mark time as we waited for the molasses-slow process of buying and selling across continents ... and now it's here! Things are finally moving quickly. Lots to do all of a sudden, as opposed to planning and thinking and waiting! But we're very relieved and glad - the sorting and packing has begun. 

When we return from the U.K. it'll be time to ready items for packing into the container, and sprucing up the house for sale (we have an agent coming by in 2 days). 

I hope the ice melts soon too, so we can put our dock in and lure buyers to our paradise! I'll be glad to get away from this wintery whiteness for a while.

Trapped Whales

There were both white dollops/spots and spidery cracks in the ice a while ago.

Up close, the white splodges looked like white whale shapes, trapped under the ice. I know the sounds that expanding, moving ice makes and it could definitely be mistaken for whale songs! Look at how whale-like this shape is:

 

I really don't know what has made some sections whiter and less opaque - they weren't proud of the ice surface and seemed to have formed beneath the ice. Zooming in even more, you can see how many little bubbles are trapped in the ice

Still fascinated!

Farewell, Sierra

There's a ton of excitement in our house right now - we have two things we're celebrating today:

- the successful sale of our Massachusetts home on Sierra Drive in Chelmsford, after owning it for 32 years. Chez Sierra was a really lovely home and neighborhood, where we hosted many friends and family members over the years.

  

These photos were taken on our final visit to our once-home. It didn't feel quite as sad as I'd expected, since we hadn't lived in it for about 15 years. It just feels like the end of an era ... I remember celebrating that we "owned a piece of America" when we bought it in our thirties.

- the other celebration is the 42nd anniversary of a Friday 13th, in which we:

• went for an early walk in a nature reserve, (Dale was barefoot), then
• signed our ante-nuptial contract in a lawyer's office, then
• shared a pizza, then 
• eloped at the registry office in Durban after retrieving a pair of Dale's sandals from the car. No rings, no guests, no special outfits, no flowers, no photographer, no fluff.

How a friend envisioned the occasion

 

Terrarium Green

 I love the bubbly greenness of this terrarium close up! So vibrant and luscious - a new name for a shade of green in your crayon box: terrarium green.

Find Your Therapy

"It's the land, air and water. That is your therapy."

— Dinï Ze' Na'Moks

(Hereditary chief, John Ridsdale of the Wet'suwet'en Nation)

Find your therapy ...

Lacy Curtains

What beautiful lace curtains we were presented with one morning! Stunning effect.

 

Unusual Droplets

This first droplet looks exactly like a kiwifruit. Believe it or not, it was a dried splodge on the door of my dishwasher - quite pretty.

The second blob looks like a silver dollar shell you'd find on the beach. It is in fact, dried egg white on the edge of my stovetop. The beauty's in the details - it's all around us. Slow down and LOOK.

Cryoprotection

In times of extreme cold, many living things rely on built-in cryoprotective mechanisms to help them survive, whether it be a state of suspended animation (torpor) or by preventing their blood from icing up, thus protecting their bodies' tissues, cells, organs and muscles.

Here I am practicing cryoprotection, with all systems on PAUSE near the fire.

There are multiple adaptive nuances in nature (eg, freeze avoiding and freeze tolerant) to survive freezing conditions. Certain living things (animals, plants, fungi and bacteria) are able to produce antifreeze proteins in their blood to protect their organs and tissues from building up ice crystals during freezing conditions. Fish, insects and amphibians have inbuilt protection states such as reduced to no heart beat, and/or little to no respiration (lowered metabolism).

Frigid Patterns

A lone winterberry trapped in ice

Sharp ice teeth gnaw at the boardwalk

Frozen disturbances

Icy Nails

Our deck became slick and rigid after a recent ice storm - February weather in December! Walking across it elicited loud, sharp cracks that unnerved me, and undermined my confidence in it being able to hold my weight. It sounded as if it would collapse at any moment, as if I was walking on a glass sheet that was cracking beneath me.

All I wanted to do was photograph this row of what looked like a snowman's buttons

Up close, the nail heads were raised and shiny with refrozen ice

Update to Love Beach

My brother updated yesterday's photo of the lonely bench at Love Beach to include Dale and I, using AI, and titled it "Anything is possible"

Love Beach

Emerson, Lake and Palmer have an album called Love Beach, released in 1978, so today when I visited Beach #5 on Love Lane in our community, I couldn't help but think of Love Beach. This is what it looked like in our frigid situation - what a lonely looking bench!

I've kayaked around these islands, looking for invasive plants - hard to imagine!

Skaters

 Skaters resting on one of our stumps 

A Year in Books

My absolute, hands-down, top pick of the year

🠋

 

This year there were more 'couldn't read, not for me'-books than ever before. I've always struggled with not having finished a book, but I'm learning that it's okay! I did manage to complete 67 though (unless there were some I forgot about), so there's that.