Lit

A small group of deer passed by while I was outside. The improbably bright moon was in my eyes, so I barely saw the deer themselves, but I saw the dark shadows they cast, and heard their hooves strike the pavement. They undoubtedly saw me standing on the porch, drenched in moonlight. Some of them hurried by, and some walked slowly, perhaps hoping not to attract my attention, perhaps inspecting me. My cat surely got a good look at them, though. Once they had passed, she appeared from under the bush in the corner of the yard, about twenty feet from where they had passed. Maybe the deer had been more interested in the bright cat eyes they had seen watching them than in me. I'll bet that kitties and deer get to see all sorts of interesting things at night.

I saw quite a bit more than usual, myself, the moon being as bright as it was. Where it shone, I could pick out many details of houses and yards, and even (vaguely) the patterns of tree bark. More pleasing were the streaks of thin clouds, which looked as though they'd been painted by Turner, and the silhouetted pine branches, inky against the luminous sky and the moon, once it settled behind them. Now and then, a breeze would stir clumps of needles and the moon would flicker behind them. The serenity of the scene was so vast as to make me impervious to the chill air. I know that when I was five or six years old, I feared the dark. Now, I can't even remember what that was like.

Blooming

I have no idea how I'll ever fill 10GB of storage space. I've barely made a dent in the 100MB I already had.

The last full moon of 2005 has risen, and I have only a slight inclination to go out and howl at it. I'm sure it's for the best if I don't. Not only is howling at the moon generally frowned upon here, but it would be likely set off the neighborhood dogs. Still, it would be nice to do something to commemorate the year's last full moon. I wonder if there's enough beer in the house to get me drunk?

There's this azalea plant by the driveway which still has several white flowers on it. I don't think azaleas are supposed to bloom in December around here. The azaleas in the back yard haven't had flowers on them for a couple of months now. Could I have a mutant azalea on my hands? True, its location does give it a lot of sunlight, but I would think that the air has been too cold for blossoms for some time. The only other thing I can think of is that the leach lines of the neighbor's septic system might run along their side yard, and the heat from their waste water is warming the ground around the plant's roots enough to fool it into thinking that it's still summer. This is a rather disturbing thought, though, as the peach tree by the fence is very close to the blooming azalea, and that would mean that the peaches might be getting leach line water. Eww!

I'll ponder that while I go take my shower.