I Saw a Star Last Night

I saw a star last night.  You would not have believed it.  It had five points and looked exactly like the Star of Texas.  It was clear, the air was bitter cold; close to zero, and the moon was unbelievably bright.  The air was so dry, that the crystals on top of the deep snow glittered in the light as if they were diamonds.  It was truly breathtaking.

I saw all of this while looking out the back door of the house.  When I glanced down and to my left, there on the railing was a star.  It was a flake of snow that reflected the light just like the Star of Texas.  At first, I thought it was some kind of optical illusion, so I moved my head left and right, but the reflected shape stayed the same.  

I called Deborah to the doorway, because I just couldn’t believe how beautiful it looked out there, and what I was seeing.  So, I went and got her out of bed and called her to the doorway.  In the time it had taken to go to the bedroom and get her to come back, the star had disappeared.

But the night was still there – it was just so unbelievable, that we stood looking out the door in the freezing cold.  Baxter had NO idea what was going on, it was out of sequence!  But it was worth just those few moments of quiet and enjoyment.  The bright moon, the stars above, and the diamonds scattered everywhere. Truly, a fantastic thing to see, despite the cold.

I then thought about trying to get a picture of it all.  Well, that didn’t work out so well.  The camera was used to the warm temperatures, and it fogged up the minute I went outside.  I had not been able to shovel the back deck where I was trying to take the picture from, so I was out there without a coat, gloves or hat, trying to set up in the snow.  Needless to say, I didn’t come up with any pictures.  But it was beautiful, and I wish I could have shared it with everyone who reads this blog!

I did go out today – we actually saw some sunshine!  And the sad thing is, you know I’m getting used to it up here when it is 17 degrees, and I’m out shooting with a jacket that has the zipper down and no gloves on.  Didn’t even realize it until I got back into the jeep!  I took my usual picture of the front of the house, so that I can end up putting together a progression of pictures showing how much snow there REALLY is out here!  I’ve got it below.  My other shots today were just OK, but there was one interesting one, which is also in this post.  

Needless to say, despite the cold and snow, there are moments up here, that are beyond spectacular.  I saw a Star of Texas last night, in a place where you would least expect it…

This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 4:07 pm. It is filed under Personal Comments and tagged with Adirondacks, snow, spruce lake, stars. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.