FROST ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF PULA

Judging by the crowded malls and supermarkets, shopping is a regular weekend activity for many people in the city and its surroundings. For some, it's probably a favorite activity. For others, it may just be a necessity. For two of my friends that I brought to the city early this morning, I suppose that is both. Something that could be defined as a highly enjoyable necessity.

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I don't share their passion, so I left them in the supermarket and went walking around the area behind the big store. As you can see in this opening shot, the morning was pretty cold and the dull suburban scenery was embellished by the frost.

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I spent an hour or two exploring the frosty winter wonderland.

In this post, you'll see a collection of vistas and details from the suburban area called Pragrande.

Pragrande is a flat, humid place that was a marsh until the first decade of the 19th century.

The area was drained through a series of canals ...

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... but it still retains something of that old wetland atmosphere.

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Here you can see the supermarket called Plodine. The store in which my friends were doing their shopping. The puddle in the foreground of this photograph ...

... was encrusted with ice. The ice was thin, but it looked pretty cool and added a lot to the chilly atmosphere.

The leaves of this small herbaceous plant looked a bit like a piece of fantasy architecture protruding from the icy landscape.

The very mundane inconspicuous grass also looked great from a certain angle.

Here you can take a better, more up-close look at the previous herbaceous plant.

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The most iconic plants of this former wetland are the reeds. I don't know what's the purpose of the rounded, arena-like place shown in this photograph, but it looks kinda cool. Both literally and figuratively. The ground in the circle is covered with fallen reeds. Maybe the thing was made by the aliens while no one was looking.

Here you can take a better look at those frost-covered reeds down on the ground. In the following photograph ...

... I came even closer to show you the shape of the tiny crystals. On different surfaces, the frost appears in slightly different forms.

Here, for example, you can see how it looks on the leaves of the Malva sylvestris plant.

This mix of grass and Malva sylvestris was photographed on the edge of the circle, in the area between the reeds and the road.

This photograph was taken at the beginning of the journey. In the supermarket's garage.

Here you can see the car that brought me to the city.

I climbed the stairs shown in this shot ...

... and soon reached the frosty wonderland behind the store.

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Outside the garage, the cars were covered with frost. The layer of frost was especially visible on this red one.

In places where the direct sunlight started reaching the frosty machines, there was plenty of photogenic vapor. The phenomenon looked like when the sunlight reaches a vampire in the movies.

Things were evaporating further down the road as well.

In some sunlit places ...

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... the crystals already melted into droplets.

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In this photograph, the focus is on the elegant desiccated branches of the Heracleum sphondylium plant.

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Here you can see a portrait of the same kind of plant, seen through a curtain made of large leaves provided by the nearby reeds.

This large, elongated leaf belongs to the Rumex hydrolapathum plant that prospers in wet or humid places. Usually in marshes and near lakes, rivers, or the sea. In this case ...

... it was photographed near a narrow canal.

This small reed looked great near the misty canal. I had plenty of fun while portraiting the plants. Many of them looked like characters in a story that still hasn't been written.

I was hearing the swooshing of the water from time to time while walking along the canal.

The sound was arriving from the pipes that were rhythmically bringing the water into the canal every five minutes, or so. Can't tell you where was this water coming from.

Not far from the supermarket, less than a hundred meters - I think, there was a construction site with a crane above it. When I zoomed in ...

... I noticed a man on one of the unfinished balconies.

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The small human figure looks great in this architectural pattern. Especially if you enlarge the picture by clicking on it. Furthermore, the vivid yellow of the safety signal vest goes very well with the reddish color of the bricks. Interesting compositions can be found even in seemingly boring suburban places that always look like something unfinished.

Here I zoomed in again. In the following photograph ...

... the focus is on the plant ...

... down on the frosty ground.

Here you can see the common nettle (Urtica dioica) surrounded by grass and other herbaceous plants. In the following photograph ...

... I got closer to the beautiful leaves.

Here you can see the leaves of a herbaceous plant that I wasn't able to identify. Many plants look very confusing and similar in winter when you can't see the fruits, seeds, or flowers.

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You can see the dried-out remains of the Dipsacus fullonum plant in this vertical tryptich.

This is the same kind of plant, but the background is different. The Dipsacus fullonum was in the shade while the nearby reeds were well-lit by the morning sun.

That combination created a beautiful golden backdrop for the portrait of the plant.

Here I zoomed in even more to show the frosty details.

Dried-out Heracleum sphondylium plants were also there, all around the Dipsacus fullonum ...

... so I photographed them as well against the golden backdrop.

Here you can see the same kind of plant in a less exuberant shot.

Here you can take a look at the grass around the bases of the tall desiccated plants.

I took many Heracleum sphondylium portraits this morning.

Definitely more than necessary.

But what else could I do? The plants looked great in the morning light.

Here you can see the desiccated wild carrot (Daucus carota) for a change. In the following photograph ...

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... you can take another look at the reeds and the scenery.

Here I zoomed in on the moon in the clear blue sky above the city.

Some places along the canal ...

... were overgrown with thorny blackberry shrubs.

Rubus ulmifolius is the scientific name of this type of blackberry.

Here you can see the desiccated fruits covered with frost. In the following photograph ...

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... I zoomed in on the buildings of the neighborhoods across the shrubs, fields, and reeds of the fairly wild area called Pragrande.

The name derives from the term "Prato grande" which in Italian means "Large lawn"

AND THAT'S IT. HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE FROSTY TOUR. AS ALWAYS IN THESE POSTS ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK.

THE END