"Irish Winter" in the Final 40!

Here's my photo that made the Final 40 in boston.com's RAW Landscapes photo contest!  

http://www.boston.com/community/photos/raw/2010/05/monthly_contest/landscapes_final40/#/29

I guess I did something right! Not a very original title, but that's the first thing that came to mind.  This is somewhere between Armagh and Omagh in Northern Ireland, taken as we drove from Newry to Donegal.  There was a diversion (detour to an American) from the main road, and we ended up on back roads for a couple of hours.  It was eerily beautiful that morning--everything, and I mean everything, was encased in ice.  It was foggy, misty, and only shades of white and gray for miles.  I had never seen anything like it.  You could even hear the ice crackling in the trees.  I was driving, and it was probably a good thing I was, because I would have been yelling at Mr. Wonderful to stop the car every few feet.  However, it was really difficult to find places to pull over, especially since the fog was so heavy.  I didn't want to get slammed by a lorry (truck)  while looking for the perfect shot!  I finally pulled into a lane and walked around happily clicking, listening to invisible cows bellowing in the fields I couldn't really see.   Mr. Wonderful stayed in the car, probably mumbling to himself that I was nuts and thinking about possible busses lurking around every corner.  The sun started to come out just after I took this one, and by noon most of the ice was gone and the stunning greens were reappearing everywhere.  We didn't have another morning like that one for the rest of the trip.  

This month's contest is "Lines and Curves".  I'm having a little more trouble finding shots with this theme...

Maybe I should turn this into next year's Christmas card?  

UPDATE:  Boston.com posted the Top Ten out of the Final 40...it didn't make the cut, but that's ok.  I was pysched to make it to the final 40!  The Top Ten gallery is now on the RAW section of boston.com.