A Perfect Moment

We just got back from our trek through the marshmallow world. We slid on our snow pants, pulled on our boots and sidled out to revel in the glow of urban winter. Everywhere we walked, the city of Portland was saying, "Whee!!" (It's a traffic nightmare, of course. We don't get much snow driving practice around here.) Most of the people we met on our walk were happily partaking of the snowy scene, kids or dogs in tow, and relishing the beauty of a white dusk. We headed toward the golf course that we usually circle as part of the three plus mile loop we take as often as we can in the winter (so that we haven't completely lost our hiking chops by the time the trails come out of their winter mud-bath.) The course was stunningly beautiful, all blanketed and clean, with scattered clumps of trees standing guard over the dozen or so children taking the seldom offered opportunity to pull their sleds out of long-term storage. As we floated along, we came across a little lake, lights from the distant houses gleaming off the partly frozen water, ice floes bobbing gently (I swear, there were ice floes), the nearby trees framing the scene with almost perfect symmetry. I longed for a camera to record the moment, but, alas, we had left home unprepared, so instead of a picture to remind us of the moment, I'm writing it down here. I don't want to let that moment go. We found a bench, and relaxed into the scene for a while, then got up, wended our way home, and plugged our Christmas lights in for one more night of glory. All this beauty deserves Christmas lights.