Newly developed red velvet spring buds were on the ready until the ice formed~

Tomorrow at 12:47 PM Kentuckiana USA time, it shall officially be considered winter. My birthday, the shortest day of the year!  We are on the far eastern part of a huge snow storm and blizzard that has hit the east coast states.  Where we live, we often have mild winters, in that we may have a few days of DEEP snow and many other days with only a few inches.  We are also prone to ice storms and the last one that we had was a real bummer, taking out our power for three and a half days in frigid cold weather and no generator for back up.  The photographs in this post are from one of those recent days.  Newly developed red velvet spring buds were on the ready until the ice formed.   The branches snapped and fell to the ground, making certain these buds would never form to maturity.  I found them to be so beautiful and thus took several photographs so that their beauty might be shared with others just for a little while longer~