Returning Moon

After sunset, the cats were delighted to discover that the rain had stopped. I opened the door and they rushed out, unconcerned with the cold and not even caring that their paws were padding on still wet ground. They got to sniff around and run off some of their pent up energy, and once they came back in, I got two much quieter cats. I also got to see the moon, and was surprised at how near the full it is. I had lost track through the long nights of cloud. Its light shone on the drops of water still clinging to the mulberry twigs, and from the right angle they appeared like strange new stars in the sky.

After midnight, when the facades of houses on the far side of the street had fallen into shadow, their frost covered rooftops seemed to hover in the darkness, as though they might at any moment float away, revealing the heavens to the astonished occupants waking in their suddenly wintry beds. Still later, a few clouds formed in the west where the moon was screened by a fretwork of pines, and around the bright near-orb, the icy crystals of moisture in the clouds refracted the moonlight into the colors of the rainbow. Altogether, a pleasant conclusion to the series of storms, or a pleasant hiatus in their midst.

I mustn't delay in getting to sleep today, as the dawn is apt to be bright. Too, I might have to get out and do things this afternoon, and so must wake while enough daylight remains. And when I get back here, I want to see that XColibur has been fixed!

Fowl

As the clouds took on color nearing sunset, I heard bird calls -- geese, or swans, perhaps -- but I couldn't see their source. They appeared suddenly, winging directly toward my location at treetop height. There were three large birds, dark, with long necks outstretched. As they passed no more than a hundred feet above my head, I heard the whooshing sound of their rapidly flapping wings. From the time they appeared until they vanished beyond another stand of pine took no more than a few seconds, but I continued to hear their calls long after. Now that I've gotten a close look at them, I might be able to find out what species they are. To Google Image Search, at the first opportunity.