Starting around 9:30 AM, it snowed for about 4 hours today. After the snow stopped in early afternoon, I took a walk in Brightwood Park.  To my surprise, on the pond the thin layer of ice formed last night formed a large area of jigsaw puzzle.  There were also areas with holes on ice in shapes like stars or more like neuronal cells in the pictorial illustrations of biology textbook.  In one place the holes lined up to form an arch.

Geese flying by appeared to appreciate the beautiful pattern on the pond, and restrained from landing to disrupt it. 

In addition to the jigsaw puzzle games on the pond, there are photos of a downy woodpecker and a red-bellied woodpecker having their lunch.  The two birds behaved like gentlemen.  The red-bellied waited till the downy finished, and came to the same table to enjoy the food.  There seemed to be plenty of good stuff, that the second one got stains on the beak while eating. ​

Winter in Brightwood Park invites encounters with a number of interesting scenes or images that can trigger wild thoughts and interpretations.   As I was watching the geese. I felt like I was being stared at by someone.  It turned out to be an abandoned fishing tool that appeared like an alien with a colorful eyeball.

The outdoor temperature dropped below freezing point last night.  In the pond, some of the newly formed ice was hanging and remained solid in the water.  Some grew into flat chunks with irregular edges.  The water flowing underneath created patterns like works of modern artists.c

 When I was little, I wanted to be a pilot.  Although the wish never came true, I became interested in flying objects, including aircrafts, birds, and UFOs.  Of course, other flying objects such as mosquitos, house flies, and cockroaches were off my list.  

Brightwood Park has become an ideal place for me to watch airplanes and observe birds.  This morning I raced ahead of sunrise and got to the park around 7:15 a.m..  The pond was filled with Canada geese.  I roughly estimated the number close to a hundred.  Like military jets, they were in good order and coordination.  One group after the other took off to start their daily routine.  While listening to the noise of wing flapping, subconsciously I felt as if I were flying, too.

I went back to the park in late afternoon.  A few mallard ducks were using the space for training.  I tried to capture the moment of landing and successfully recorded it once.  While I was focusing on the ducks, behind me a tiny bird made a noise for my attention.  I turned around and found a tiny cotton ball-like bird on a nearby tree.  On the back of the bird I saw three red buds of the tree, organized in a pattern like a tail propeller.  I googled the name of the bird and found it to be a dark-eyed junco。

On New Year's Day, I walked into a party in Brightwood Park and was greeted by mushrooms, a red-bellied woodpecker, mallard ducks, and a goose.  These friends decorated the park with all kinds of beautiful color combinations.  I visited their booths, watched their performances, and then how they waved hands to say "Happy New Year!" to one another.  I hung around the park for more than two hours, and did not feel cold at all.

The day's chocolate?  Snow Geese!
​

 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.