How cold is that?

When we got up this morning, it was twenty below (-28.8 C) with a wind chill of minus 42 (-41.1 C). A good day to stay inside, right?

But a friend from my Michigan State days who now lives in Florida had asked me to try an experiment when the temps dipped this low. He had seen photos of frozen bubbles -- you know, the kind kids make with soapy water in the summer -- and wanted me see if I could do that.

First of all, I had trouble finding the bubble-making stuff anywhere this time of year, but the good old Dollar Store came through for me. I laid in the supplies while we were out for dinner Saturday (when it was a balmy twenty above zero), and did a trial run yesterday when it was just above zero.  That attempt was, as the saying goes, close, but no cigar. I figured it needed to be even colder.

So this morning I went outside, while Tom shook his head from the comfort of his office, and gave it a shot. The wind (remember: wind chill?) made it impossible for me to control where the bubbles went, and most just blew away. The ones that hit the sidewalk were obviously frozen, because the fragments stayed together and blew around like bits of plastic wrap.

Eventually I got one that stayed together long enough for me to photograph it. Trust me, this is a picture of a frozen bubble. If you look closely, you can see the crinkled bottom resting on the sidewalk. I blew on it to try to get a frosted look.

This is the same bubble with a hole punched in the top.

Pretty amazing, huh?

If you want to see the beautiful examples that inspired my frigid photo session, go to this link:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/slideshow/frozen-bubble-21372569

Now those are gorgeous!