The Year Ends, and Winter Begins

We're back in Connecticut now, after our holiday exploits, and we settled back in just in time for winter to really start. Yesterday's constant snowfall (hooray!!) left a thick blanket of the white stuff everywhere, so the first thing Paul and I did when we woke up this morning was to head out for a walk through the snow-covered woods of Naugatuck State Forest.

I'm glad we chose the morning for our adventure, because the snow was still clinging mostly undisturbed to the trees (the sun and wind meant that most branches were bare by the afternoon). And even better, we were absolutely the first people in these woods. Is there anything more wonderful than a woods-walk through perfectly new, unbroken snow?
 

(Actually, the snow's surface wasn't quite unbroken -- a few deer had walked these paths before us, and you can make out some of their tracks in the picture above.)

I love how trees look in the snow, and we got to see some really beautiful scenes next to this wood's mostly-frozen ponds:
 

Can I just stay out here forever?
 

Everything is prettier with snowy highlights:
 

Two Red-breasted Nuthatches showed up during our walk, and it was cool to see these creatures in a more wintry environment:
 

These nuthatches were especially puffy (and therefore especially adorable), all fluffed up against the cold:
 

Happy winter, little puffball!
 

I'm looking forward to many more snowy days to come. :)