goodbye, old year

It's official: I'm home from my Christmas vacation. Well, actually, I was home last Thursday, but have not yet found opportunity to spend time with my neglected blog. For some reason, I had quite a bit of work piled on my desk when I returned to the office on Friday. Funny how that works.

It's still there, in fact, so I'd better make this brief. Very brief. In fact, I'm leaving now.

Ok, ok, I'll leave you with one more little bit o' stuff.

With the blanket of snow we have, the darkness of night isn't quite so dark. It can be a little spooky--it's so quiet; most of the birds and critters that usually provide background music are gone until spring. When I turn out the lights, the loudest noise I hear from my bed is the refrigerator on the other end of the house, or the furnace in the basement.

The other night, when I went to bed around twelve, I clicked off the lamp but left the radio on for a few minutes. My eyes adjusted to the dark. When I at last rolled over to turn off the radio, I automatically looked out the window at the head of my bed. I clearly saw the dark shape of maple tree that I usually see--and two shorter shapes that did not belong. It took me a moment to realize what I was seeing.

Deer. Two deer were grazing in my yard at midnight, on a lunar landscape of softly-glowing white. When I woke the next morning, I could see the little patches of ground that they had cleared of snow to reach the still-tender grass beneath. Crazy.

Happy New Year