Jack Frost -- Susan Price
Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frost_patterns_2.jpg
When I was young our house was freezing in winter -- literally. There used to be ice on the inside of the windows.
This was because we lived in a council house built in 1954 which, although well appointed for its time, had no insulation, no central heating and only single-glazed windows. In winter, the heating was a fire in the living-room which didn't even heat that room very well. (The part of you nearest the fire was roasted; the part of you furthest away was cold.)
There was a fire-grate in the front-room, but it was hardly ever used.
The upstairs rooms had no heating and the cold up there could be -- often was -- bitter. We lived, as I still do, on top of the Rowley Hills. My Dad often observed that there was no higher point between us and the Urals and the east wind blew to us straight from Siberia. Going straight through us, of course, not bothering to go round.
But Jack Frost used to paint the windows.
Elaborate, fern-like patterns of ice spread across every pane. Sometimes they looked like the paisley pattern. I hated being cold but I loved Jack Frost's artistry. Cold as it was, we would pause in the hall to admire the hall window.
Credit:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ice_crystals_at_window07.jpg
Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frost_patterns_4.jpg
I haven't seen Jack Frost's work for so many years... He never, for instance, paints my car's windscreen, which always freezes to a smooth, dull grey. And now I have a house with cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, double-glazing and central heating, he never paints my house windows either, not even during one of our rare freezing winters.
I'm glad I don't have to put on a coat and hat to leave my living-room anymore, but...
Illustration by Oliver Herford.
Sometimes I miss Jack Frost.
And I've often been inspired by ice and snow...
Winner of the Carnegie medal
In the darkest hour of a freezing Midwinter, a night-walking witch begs a slave-woman to give away her new-born baby.
The witch carries off the baby in her house on chicken legs. She names her Chingis and teacher her the Three Magics...
Under a freezing Arctic sky, a wolf carries a baby to a remote village.
Taken in by the villagers and named 'Vulchanok' or 'Little Wolf', the lost baby grows into a happy little boy.
But night after night, his dreams are walked by his rescuer, the wolf-witch. She leads him to the Ghost World and makes him a shaman.
During a bad winter in Viking-age Scotland, Fari finds a polar bear cub that drifted to shore on an ice floe.
He raises the cub and teaches her tricks. They soon become inseparable – but as the bear grows and grows, she is no longer welcome in Fari’s home.
Follow Fari as he embarks on a
journey to save his friend.
Comments
Thanks so much. I love the window frost patterns, a poem in themselves.
Nowadays of course I have the central heating on all day!