An icy day gave way to an unexpected quiet after a graupel snowfall. As the storm cleared, cotton-candy skies of pink and blue stretched across the cold horizon - a fleeting winter moment that softened the sharpness of the season.

While birding near Fredericksburg, Texas, I encountered frostweed - an unassuming plant that reveals its quiet magic only on freezing mornings. As moisture escapes its stem and freezes into delicate ribbons of ice, the ground briefly blooms before the sun erases the evidence. It was a reminder that some of nature’s most beautiful moments ask us to slow down and look closer.