Borrowing the line in the movie "Forrest Gump," it appears fair to say, Brightwood Park is "like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you are going to get."  Today when I walked in the meadow area, underneath the mulberry tree, snow transformed the color of some of the roots to bright red.  The color change was seen last year, too, only around this time.

A few geese came to check out the pond.  They had no problem walking or skating on floating ice, and did not mind falling into the water when the ice was broken by their weight.  They were also able to climb to ice plates from the water. 

The flat pieces of floating ice and their reflections glowed under the morning sun.  This was my first time capturing the pretty scene.

I took a few photos of the same old objects, the wood ear colonies by the uphill trail passing the two pond junction, with a new finding of an elephant face.  

 It was a rare warm December day.  The ice in the pond of Brightwood Park was melting, and there had been plenty of water added by an overnight rain.

I took a walk in the park after church and found, amazingly, that the mushrooms had been well preserved under extreme weather conditions.  There were no geese but mallard ducks  were dancing and ice-skating in the small pond.  A female cardinal posed for me on a tall tree.

 These days Brightwood Park is like a motel for migrating geese.  They check in around mid-afternoon and check out before 9:30 in the morning.  One can watch them getting up one by one and stretching their wings around 8:30 a.m.  Like us humans, the next is to take a shower before starting other activities of the new day.

(Included in this set of photos: A large chunk of ice formed under the bridge while the water was still running.)

 ​Before continuing the journey to the south, a few geese went through trainings of taking off and landing on ice.  All the geese then left by groups between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m.

 ​While I was watching the geese getting up this morning, a red fox appeared on the other side of the pond.  The fellow appeared to know my intention when I pulled out my camera, and posed for me before moving on.  The resolution of the photos were not so great even the camera, my frozen fingers, and myself all stretched to the limit.

On a December morning just before Christmas, it was so cold that I could hardly hold my cell phone or camera, even though it was exciting to see geese and birds still active in Brightwood Park.  The ice formation was also interesting.  Here is what I saw to share with you.

A pileated woodpecker came by and did posing for about 10 minutes before saying goodbye and Merry Christmas.

The geese delayed their take off for about an hour due to the coldness.  The captain had to yell at the pilots over and over to wake them up and get them ready.  After all the squadrons were airborne, I saw one still on the ice and not moving at all.  I walked around the pond and examined from 270 degrees.  Finally the lone goose stood up and reported to be still alive and just not yielding to peer pressure.

A squirrel was enjoying breakfast.  The color of the meal appeared to be copied from the manu of Turning Point restaurant.

The beefsteak mushrooms and the wood ears put on their winter coats, and decided to stay and greet friends of Brightwood Park.