Being English, I love the snow, of course! But then we rarely get any. Gorgeous image and I smiled at the resilient little red Japanese maple. We have one in our front garden, which was a wedding gift from friends. They do make wonderful long lasting gifts of beauty for special things. Lovely that your friend planted that for your mum.
@ukandie1 - hahaha! we were having really warm days before this. funny thing was, the day after i posted my comment, it snowed here for the first time this season, but not as much as this.
@summerfield last fall was unseasonably warm, this fall is basically winter! Toronto and Chicago are not that far apart, so you know the weather is never predictable, kind of love it!