Rainbows in the Moonlight

1/31/1999

I love the nights of October, nights of the harvest moon nights when clear northern air sweeps across my deck. I love the days of October as well, the fall colors, the smell of apple cider and doughnuts at the mill. I love to ride out on the wagon and pick our favorites, the Empire apples. I cut em up and sauté them with a bit of butter, just like Grandma used to make.

I watched the moonrise this evening, as a gorgeous golden hue was cast across the eastern sky. The moon looks so near when it has that harvest glow. But I waited to go out on the deck till quite a bit later, and watch the night sky.

I flicked off the switch and turned off the outside lights, wrapped tightly in a thick Turkish robe. I opened the back door, stepped out onto the cold damp deck in my bare feet and felt the first chill of winter. The full moon cast a bright shadow across the top of the hot tub as I lifted the cover.

Turning to look at the moon, I took robe off my shoulders and draped it across the chair.
The water was perfect, so clear and hot. In the chill of the night air the quick immersion brings a flood of sensations. As I slid down into the seat I felt the troubles of the day draining from my body. Ahhhhh - the heat, the cold. I basked in the waves of sensations from hot water to the brisk night air.

I lay back and stared at the stars through a slight haze. Turning to my right I could see that the moon lay just beyond the roof line, causing a sharp shadow to cut across the deck and tub. I scanned the night sky to my left looking for the big dipper its presence was blasted out of the sky by the brightness of the moon.

There, just beyond the deck, stands a Norway spruce, towering over me, and towering over the deck. I looked into the tree and saw a sparkle of light - and then another.

The slightest of breezes blew through the needles and the tree sparkled. This was new to me - I slid up to sit on the edge of the hot tub and stared into the short thick needles.

Dew. "It's dew" I said to myself - The tree was full of dew drops. Quickly I swung my legs around and popped out of the tub walking up closely to the spruce.

My bare feet felt the cold deck, and my naked body the night air. As I stood there, I tilted my head back and gazed into the tree. At first the sparkles were muted, because the steam rising from my body obscured the view.

So I stood in silence, waiting for the air to clear. A chill came across me, as I waited for the steam to subside. I stood there, me, naked, cooling, head bent back before that towering spruce... and I watched in wonder as the smallest of dew drops - sparkled before me.

I smiled - the smile of a child who has just discovered a treasure. For in that tree, on the cold October night, the dew drops in the moonlight, became rainbows in the night. Each drop, viewed with a slightly different angle, took the light of the moon and played it back to me - a miniature rainbow, a wonder in the night.

So if in your journeys and travels you have the chance, stop one night, and look for rainbows in the night sky.