This morning was one.

Apparently, there was major radiational cooling at some point during the night.

It must been cold enough, or a dramatic enough drop in temperature, in a small area near town that an arctic fog formed, hanging hoarfrost heavily enough on trees, bushes and about everything else to create a weird sort of light snow.

There was hoarfrost so heavy that the dawn came stunningly beautiful, light fractured into something otherworldly.

It was seriously odd, around 10-12 degrees, but virtually calm, so maybe that explains the hoarfrost hanging 10 beautiful.

But it was a bearable cold after all the wind and cold we have had in December so far.

I was so taken by the beauty of the dawn that I stopped the meathead regularly to take a slew of photos with my cell phone.

Doing that soon caught up to me, and my fingers tingled and stiffened in the cold as I took my gloves off to snap photos.

It was worth it.

The morning was that memorable.

A pair of hardy doves scattered hoarfrost like a passing flurry when they flew off.

An hour later driving to church, some trees outside of town were so heavy with hoarfrost that my daughter Sara blurted, ``It's a Crystal Wonderland.''

It was.

Another mile and we were out of the wonder of hoarfrost.

Late this afternoon, I asked my technologically-advanced nephew to download the photos for me.

The meathead and I will back to the routine soon enough, the beauty of the morning reduced to memory.

Life goes that way.