Star Shadow, have you seen it?

We had a rainy start today. Then the sun came out and the sky turned blue. Every time I see a cloudless blue sky, I'm reminded of September 11, 2001, and I say a heartfelt prayer for the USofA and our military. Tonight the stars are shining alongside the full moon -- or nearly full moon. I love the night. It takes up to four hours for a person's 'night vision' to fine tune. Once you learn the trick of not looking directly at what you want to see, you can see fairly well, even on the darkest night. I've seen 'moon shadow' and I've seen 'star shadow.' It's just beautiful. The dark brings out one's inner senses for survival, I imagine. I just feel as if I'm in some kind of a magical world when I'm out at night. There's really not that much to fear at night. Well, where I live, anyway. Maybe a bear, but more likely a skunk. I can't really describe the sensation of being at ease with the night. To me, it's more beautiful than daylight. Although the moments just before a sunrise or and just after a sunset are also favorite times of mine. Especially if I'm in the kayak on the Lake. I love sitting in my kayak in the fog and watching the sky slowly turn to morning colors and the mist on the lake rising to become clouds. Awesome. And more than once I've had to paddle like crazy to get back to shore as the sunset colors darken to shades of gray. But it's worth the wonder of it.

Have you ever wondered how dark it would be if all the outside lights were turned off at night? I miss seeing the Milky Way that I saw as a child and youth. There is just too much light pollution. I have a friend who went hiking along the Great Wall of China a few years ago. She said that Mongolia was a perfect place to look at the stars. I'm sure that eventually Mongolia will have "super big-boxed-marts" criss-crossing it one day. And that, my friendly reader, is sad. Very sad.

It's late again and the dogs are wondering when I'll come to bed so they can also sleep. Good night for now.