Friday Ramble - Frost

Frost is another one of those words which seems to have been around forever, coming to us from close Middle and Old English forms meaning "freezing, becoming frozen or extreme cold". The present noun form is cognate with Old Saxon, High German and Norse words claiming the same ancestral roots.  Then there are the Proto Germanic frusta and Old High German vorst, both related to the old verb freosan meaning "to freeze". Somewhere back there are Old Saxon, Frisian and Dutch kindred, and at the root of it all, the PIE (Proto-Indo-European language) preus which seems to have described processes of both freezing and burning.

Recent studies predicate that PIE has been around since at least 3700 BCE, long before the common era, and probably much earlier than that. When I think about such things, I am wrapped anew in reverence for words and language and the commonalities of earthly existence right back to the beginning times.

There is a beautiful day rising out there beyond the windows, morning skies in multitudinous shades of lavender, purple and gold, the sun coming up behind the ash trees in the garden, geese winging overhead out to stubbly fields to feed. The air is filled with their songs and exuberance on this cold morning near the end of October.

There was a heavy frost here last night, and its lacy scraps can still be seen on the cobblestones and roof tiles of the village. Dauntless Virginia creeper vines in the hedgerows seem to be undeterred by the night's plummeting temperatures, but they're turning red, violet and burgundy, and they look as though their jaunty stance is darned hard work.

The leaves of the wild roses in our hedgerow were clad in frost this morning, each and every crystal clearly defined and sparkling like a gem in the early light. Blue sky, silver and platinum frost crystals, russet and gold rose leaves dancing in the wind - who says there is no color about in late autumn?  One has only to look, and the best time for looking is just as the sun is rising over the bare trees.