The first frost

Source A: an original contemporary non-fiction-style account.

The first frost arrived without the theatrical warning I had expected. No storm announced it. I opened the back door to take out the rubbish and found the garden altered under a perfectly clear sky. The air felt thin and sharp. On the path, the puddle beside the drain had become a small opaque window, holding a leaf just beneath its surface. I left the bin where it was and went back for a coat, suddenly unwilling to cross the garden too quickly.

Every neglected object had been given an elaborate border. Frost embroidered the rim of the bucket and traced the broken teeth of an old rake. The lawn glittered with a precision that made my untidy planting seem briefly intentional. A spider's web, invisible the previous evening, had become a white diagram suspended between two sticks. I could see its structure only because the cold had burdened it. The same delicate weight that revealed the threads drew them lower towards the ground.

As the sun reached the fence, the transformation began to undo itself. Bright points gathered, loosened and fell. The bucket became a bucket again; the rake resumed its unflattering outline. Along the path, the ice gave a small dry crack beneath my shoe, a sound much larger than the damage. I felt an absurd wish to apologise to the puddle. By breakfast, the garden was returning to the damp, ordinary arrangement I had left the night before, while water slipped quietly from the web's lowest thread.

I had taken photographs, but none reproduced the whole experience. The cold in my fingers and the sound underfoot were missing. The pictures made the frost appear more permanent than it had been, as though the garden had acquired a new design rather than borrowed one for an hour. Later, carrying the rubbish to the bin at last, I noticed that the web was still there. It had simply become difficult to see again.

Refer only to the second and third paragraphs of Source A. Analyse how the writer uses language to present the effects of frost and its disappearance. Support your answer with evidence from these paragraphs.