Winter Surprises

I took a little walk down by the creek today, in the late afternoon sunshine.

The pine trees are dripping with pine cones!
And the creek was frozen over, although upstream a little, where the sun had shone during the day, water was trickling through, clear and icy cold.

It has been so very cold, so I was thankful that today warmed a little, and, most of all, that it was sunny.What are these buds? On the tree near the garage since fall. The foliage, in fall, turned bright bronze brown, and fell off the tree. But, these little fuzzy buds appeared, and over the winter have grown larger.

Somebody, please tell me this is a magnolia tree. Oh, please.

Down the back of the property, near a patch of woods, I spotted this little nest in a hedge bush. I like the almost cornucopia-like shape.

Ah, and here was a surprise on a bright, early, winter morning. Two little imps found the stash of leftover Christmas chocolate. One to unwrap, two to gobble.