Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Cloud echoing the sun, then snow

Yesterday I was up at sunrise, which came with scattered clouds. As the sky brightened, I raised my eyes from making the bed to glance out the north-facing window.

What I saw was disconcerting and mysterious: a bright round disc, larger than the moon but in the wrong place for the sun.

Bright as a planet, this ball of light was screened by the edge of the trees; by the time I moved to another window to see it better, it was gone. This strange phenomenon was so short-lived that I almost thought I'd imagined it.

Opening the front door to get the newspaper, I had seen the moon in the southern sky, in the phase where only half of it is visible. It looked round and rich, casting its light on fluffy morning clouds.

Through my office window on the same side of the house as the front door, the sun shone on me from the south. Was this third orb I'd seen a reflection of the sun?

Today the ground is covered with a light coating of snow. As is typical of our climatic region, it is damp, and will not last. Meanwhile, every surface is covered in a soft forgiving white and the world looks different and beautiful.

The luxury of time at home allows me to see the particular magic of each unique day.

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