"Three-quarter moon."
A nighttime wander.
JANUARY 24—It is eleven twenty p.m. and ten degrees Fahrenheit this evening. Overhead, a three-quarter moon shines coldly down from an inky sky. Stars wink and blink, peep brightly through a fine and finely torn veil of clouds. In the distance coyotes howl. A sensible person would be inside, in bed, buried beneath warm blankets. But I have too often been sensible. Tonight, instead, I am sensibly aware that time for me grows short. I am therefor outside—where shadows and light and coyotes are at play. This is a night to experience.
I offer these few photos, taken on this night, in celebration of the subtle beauty that surrounds us. There is something of Albert Pinkham Ryder in what I see. Several of these images feature the white marble obelisk—standing over five feet atop its granite base—that anchors our back lawn. In the middle distance the neighbor’s snowy roofline is vividly illuminated in the moonlight, and farther yet there is the dark silhouette of Haystack Mountain.
May these be a source of quiet joy and an inspiration for further nighttime wanderings.
