Dry ice + National Trust rose

My good pal Jennifer gave me the best present ever on Thursday - a polystyrene box full of dry ice! I was so excited, it was like it was Christmas all over again. 

Why do I love dry ice, you might be wondering. Well, it's because you can do some really funky things with it. It's the solid form of carbon dioxide and is very very cold. When you heat it up, it undergoes a phase transition from solid directly to gas (a process known as sublimation, and I think that's a very beautiful word). The gas is smoky and white and looks spooky as anything.

So anyway, there I was with a full 2 days of laboratory experiments ahead of me and no time to do any photography funtimes, so I put the box in our walk-in fridge and hoped it wouldn't all be gone by the weekend.

Fast forward to this morning and there was sufficient dry ice left to play about in the kitchen with whilst my husband taught an A-Level student some Physics in the dining room. The rose in this picture came from a bouquet given to me by the National Trust last weekend when I stayed in what is to all intents and purposes, a castle (Shute Barton).

If you want to celebrate a special occasion, you could do far worse than to rent out a National Trust cottage. Last year we stayed in a lighthouse! I have to find something even more epic for my birthday next year...

Happy weekend everyone!