I took a walk in the gloaming

Something pulled me outside, so I slipped on some shoes and started walking.

I had originally intended to stick to the pavement - once over to the ALF and back, but I found myself steering toward the gated gravel road along the cross-country course.

I stopped momentarily at a break in the trees to my right and watched the full corn moon rise. It was orange.

I cut over into the grass and up the embankment. There's an opening there, between where the old post and wire fence ends and a large tree whose trunk I may or may not be able to span with my arms. The path was worn down to the bare dirt, but very narrow. The grass, which by this time of year would usually still only be knee-high and dry was actually waist high, and caught on my hair, which was down.

I emerged onto the mowed path and started walking.

There was a white fog creeping along the ground in all of the low spots. As I descended a hill into it, I could feel the cool, moist air, but could no longer see the shroud of mist around me. (It reappeared when I ascended the next hill at the other end of the field.)

The ground was so soft that I removed my shoes and walked, barefoot, along the path. I noticed that the field actually looked like a meadow. The grass and scrub plants were high, offering a multitude of colors and textures even in the quickly dimming twilight. I had to stop for a moment and close my eyes, taking in the wonderful smells of sweet wild herbs and meadow grass, and listening to the almost deafening sounds of the crickets. (It's amazing what happens when it actually rains during the summer!)

I realized, though, that it was getting Dark, and it's not that I was concerned for my safety from a "Big Scary Guy Will Jump Out of the Woods and Get Me" standpoint, but rather a "Hidden Critter Hole Will Reach Out and Break My Foot" one, so I put my shoes back on and headed back toward the "exit".

As I emerged back out onto the sidewalk, I knew I was definitely back in reality, as some young men in an apartment in the back section of Fountain Park were blasting obnoxious music and WOOOOOOOO-ing at some Manly Thing one of them had done.

Cold moon

I was laying on the sofa, this evening, keeping warm beneath a down throw and my laptop, when the rising full moon peeked through the vertical blinds on the back sliding door.

I ventured forth from the warmth of my little sofa-nest, and stood there, gazing through the (poorly insulated) glass.

It was amazing! It bathed everything in a blue light, and reflected off the dusting of snow to make even the frozen mud look beautiful.

After a minute or so, however, I realized that it was Very Cold by the back door, and the draft was making the stray hairs around my face move around, slightly. So, I shut the blinds as tightly as possible.

Driving home from my friend's house, later at night, the moon was almost directly overhead. I felt as though my entire car was glowing in the dark. As I pulled down the street to get to my neighborhood, I noticed that I could see the entire cross country field, a quarter mile away, bathed in the frosty light.

I wanted to stand outside and gaze at it, some more... but even this north coast girl knows when it's just too cold to do that for any length of time.

On a related note... I am puzzled at the fact that it is that the temperature outside is a steady 8F degrees, yet the ice cream that I made earlier, and set out on the balcony for several hours, is still the consistency of a melted milkshake?