Sunday, January 11, 2009

The night drive


It’s 8:30 Saturday and the sun set hours ago. We’re on our way home from a matinee theatre performance and an early dinner with friends. Randy Bachman is playing 60’s blues on his Vinyl Tap radio show. The volume is cranked up, feet are tapping on the floor and hands are beating against the steering wheel. It’s cold, but the roads are clear and dry. Driving conditions are excellent.

The bright, full moon casts crisp shadows – younger eyes might even be able to read by its light this night – and high beams are unnecessary. We can see the deer foraging in the fields as we drive by.


Offering cheerful contrast to the monochromatic moonlight, some of the farm houses still wear their Christmas colours, a welcome to friends who stop by.

A solitary snow machine out for an evening spin is seen in the distance.

The hour goes by too fast.

5 comments:

sassy said...

This could be subtitled "Picture This" as I sure could.

That was me in the back seat, imagining that I was there

Another nice break from things

Canajun said...

So that's why I kept hearing, "Are we there yet?" :-)

It was a beautiful night indeed.

penlan said...

My tipi cover was duck canvas - cream coloured. To be able to see at night I used oil lamps. When there was a bright, clear moon in the winter, & cloudless, it would reflect off the snow making the interior very bright & I was able to read, if I wanted to, without burning a lamp. As you said, the eyes were "younger" then of course.

I often took walks, on my snowshoes, some evenings & it was incredibly wondrous! Still & peaceful as could be.

Canajun said...

Penlan, that must have been some experience. As much as I like being out of doors in winter, I like even more the idea of being able to come home to a nice, warm house. A cold tipi is a whole other level of "roughing it".

penlan said...

Canajun,

The tipi being a smaller, enclosed area would heat up very quickly. I used to pack snow around it as high as I could reach for extra insulation. The only thing I didn't like was the intense amt. of humidity inside from the snow.