Bubbilicious

It's not as cold today (cresting 0F) and the wind isn't blowing, so I ventured further out for more frozen bubble shots. The bubbles didn't frost over like they did yesterday (amazing what 17 degrees will do), but they did last, and they did freeze. I took a few this morning on the deck, before it was fully light, and later I tromped out to the little barn and got some very cool shots. Just so you'll know- the clear bubble solution didn't work well, so I went with the yellow. I happen to like the yellow bubbles, but if the reaction on Facebook is any indicator, some of you will dislike them. Strongly. Bear with me, if you're one of those folks.

I bow to our Alien Bubble Overlords...

The silly things wouldn't land on the railing, like Nice Bubbles. I had to get all the way down on the deck floor to take this shot.

And this one.

A little later, the light was much better. That's me, btw, in the reflection. I'm wearing a red sweatshirt.

 Oopsie- it spilled. This was the homemade solution, which didn't work all that well anyway. It's going to warm up steadily the rest of this week, so I doubt there will be any new frozen bubble pics for awhile. It was fun while it lasted.

Adventures on the Frozen Prairie

You might have heard that it's cold in these here parts.

It's been Hunker Down weather for a couple of days now, and we've been going just a little bit stir crazy. Then I saw these photos, and thus began my mission to take some frozen bubble pictures of my own.

The first obstacle was remembering that I tossed out all of the bubble solution and wands last fall. But I found a soap bubble recipe online (1/4 cup of liquid dish soap, 3/4 cup of cold water, 5 drops of glycerin). The second obstacle was having no wand, but I made one from wire.

The third obstacle was a little tougher to overcome- it's windy. Very very windy (the screenshot above low-balled the wind. We had steady 25 mph winds and gusts higher). Too windy to get any beautiful intact bubble shots, those gorgeous ones that reflect sunlight and the surrounding landscape. I did, however, go out (in my jammies...) and try the bubbles. It took 20 or 30 tries to get a bubble to float on the air, but when it did, it was magical: the bubble would float up, become frosty, and then collapse silently like a silk parachute. It was amazing to see. Definitely worth risking frozen extremities.

But it was windy. The only photo I got yesterday was this one, of a bubble that got stuck on a porch post.

Ethereal, but not exactly what I had in mind.

So when The Hub went uptown this morning (Me? I'm not goin' no place), I charged him with finding me some commercial bubbles somewhere. He came back with the only option he could find: a $5 bottle of yellow bubbles (the caution warns not to use them indoors, or at weddings... that's some powerful yellow there).

It's still too windy for floaty-bubble pictures (or videos), and far too windy for serene reflecting bubble shots (and I'll use clear solution for them), but I got some amazing pictures anyway. Bear in mind that the wind chills were at dangerous levels and that I can't wear gloves and use my phone camera at the same time. The bubbles were blown and the pictures taken all within a 3-minute window, before frostbite set in.

You can bet that the moment the wind goes down, I'll be out there again.