Moonshine...

I work best at night. When darkness envelopes the landscape and blankets everything thickly in shadows and silence, the gears in my brain start churning. I've always been like this. Even as a child, I would lie awake, fidgeting. Sometimes I'd drape the bottom bunk bed with several quilts and read or draw by flashlight.

Last night, well after midnight, I took a break. I turned off the porch light and stepped out on the deck. Sometimes I do this to clear my head or to look at the stars. It was different though. Usually the darkness has a velvety quality. Electric lights are at a minimum here in the country and the shadows silkily overlay the sky, punctured only by pinprick stars and the swoops of bats and bugs. Last night, everything was animated by a silvery light. The moon mimicked the sun of an early winter day. I took a picture and it was so bright that it caused a lens flare! The shadows were sharper, the lines harsher. The woods took on a different feel. The leaves of the woodland trees, lit by moonshine, looked like millions of fluttering moths clinging to a branch.