Sastrugi

  • Post published:12/29/2010
  • Post comments:4 Comments
December 28, 2010 8 am

It wouldn’t be snowy winter unless I was writing about sastrugi, the snow waves and caves created by the wind.  This is what the western edge of the Sunken Garden looked like at early this morning.  The snow storm has passed but the snow is cold and dry and the wind blows right across the field to the west.

December 28, 2010 2 pm

You can see how the shape of the snow has changed, especially where the sun is hitting in the center.

December 28, 2010 4 pm

The snow was still blowing and forming at 4 pm when the sun was beginning to set.

Fyrstekaka

To keep warm  I did some baking.  Inspired by the NYTimes story about Swedish bakeries, I got out my Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas and whipped up a Finnish Prince’s Cake, or Fyrstekaka.  My lattice isn’t very lovely, but when friends and I sampled it, we all agreed it was a hit.

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Lisa at Greenbow

    I love this word ‘Sastrugi’. It is such a wintery word. It conjures up beautiful snow images in my mind each time my eyes roll across the word. I know it is really winter when I read this word on your blog.

  2. Mary Schier

    I didn’t know these had a name other than “drifts”.I like sastrugi, sounds a bit like pasta. The pie looks great!

  3. Sweetbay

    I love sastrugi but didn’t know before now that it had a name! They are mesmerizing.

  4. Carolflowerhill

    Great word and great looking lattice to me! I am sure it tasted yummy! What a storm it was . . . sculpting snow drifts all about this old farmhouse. Funny I could see grass in places, for it was blowing horizontal at times.

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