Last night, I took the dog for a walk in the moonlight. There was a light cover of cloud, but the moon and the white of the snow gave enough light for easy walking. Periodically, the clouds moved completely aside and then the deep shadows of the trees loomed on the ground around me. My night-time walks are generally up the driveway, about an eighth of a mile, to the road. Last night, at the head of the drive, I turned left and walked the road to the neighboring farm’s field. There I could see a few of the humps of snow laden hay-bales, the large round kind, and the hay rake tilted toward the sky, as if resting right where it had finished its late summer harvest. I am not sure why the farmers didn’t bring it in, except that maybe they are still working on the interior of the barn. The farmers are two brothers, who bought this farm from an aging and retired farmer. It had been years since the previous farmer had done much and both the buildings and fields were in dire need of restoration. The brothers and their wives have been working hard at reviving an old enterprise, and it is beginning to show. It is heartening to see that an old way of life is being reborn, that people still care, and are becoming stewards.
This morning, it was snowing again, very gently and quietly, when we went out. At the end of this week my dog-sitting duties will be over. I wonder if I will take the time to venture out just for myself. I hope I can keep up this habit. It is so restorative to gaze up at the night sky, or walk amongst the trees in the early morning.