Sippin' Wine and Chillin'

This evening reminded me of winter-camping in Waterton during my years attending university.  It is an amazing thing when wine stays chilled as you’re looking at the stars.  By the way, I have identified four of the seven planets…but need to get my telescope out tomorrow night to see the other three.  The sky has been so clear, it’s absolutely stunning! 

I remember one night like this in Waterton, hiking in to a lake’s edge.  It got so very dark in the mountains and the sun set early, but the fire threw magical light and created shadows on everything!  It was much like tonight, not particularly cold, but enough so that the wine stayed chilled and the noses and cheeks felt a bite.  Curling into sleeping bags, everything was cozy for a good night’s sleep.  But, as is typical of the mountains, there was no less than a foot of snow dumped on everything come the morning, on this particular day.

I was thinking about light, as I sat on the deck benches tonight…the softness of it…how it reveals so much in the literal sense, but also metaphorically.  I can’t help but think, now that Bing Crosby is crooning and I am warm as toast, about that star that the shepherds saw and what all of that meant.  Here I am in 2011, gazing at the same night sky.  I feel blessed.  The cat purrs in the circle of my arms as I type and I think about going to the kitchen to bake a sweet treat and eat cheese and crackers.

Max after a good exercise event...snow-gazing.

What are we doing out here?