A Bazillion Stars, a glowing fire, and the Four Seasons

Thursday, 17 January 2013.  Well, its raining tonight (Ugh!) and the temps are supposed to drop, but last night, well, last night was absolutely wonderful.  I grilled some burgers for our supper and we ate outside with a glowing log fire burning away nearby in our fire pit.  As the night enveloped us, Lynette got chilly and scampered off into the warmth of our motorhome.  Me, I was up for was some "sitting by the open fire" and watching the night sky unveil itself to me.  I was most assuredly not disappointed.  Wanting to make this moment as magic as possible, I ran inside to grab my iPod and Travelocity earbuds -- the latter a gift from my granddaughters.  As I snuggled up around the fire, poking a stick here and there amidst the glowing embers, I was treated to a most magical display of the night sky.  Accompanied by a fairly full moon, wispy grey clouds drifted slowly across the night sky.  At first all I saw were one or two far distant stars.  But as the night grew darker and darker -- and the cloud cover moved on up the Atlantic coast -- I was treated to a wonderful display of the universe as its best.  My canopy soon became a bazillion (if that's not a real number it should be) bright, glittering stars across the night sky. It is so dark at night in our campground that the night sky becomes almost a mystical scene of glitter far, far away in the dark sky.  I found myself wondering about that age old question whether mankind here on earth is really alone, or like many earthlings, think there are "others" out there somewhere.  Remember Jody Foster in Contact?  One of my favorite movies.  Every once in awhile, ya' just gotta believe, right?  There's a scene in that movie where Sparks (Jody Foster's character) asks her Dad if there's people on other planets.  His answer:  I don't know, Sparks. but I guess I'd say if it is just us, seems like an awful waste of space.  What a great line!

Anyway, so I'm grooving away on my iPod music and sipping my red wine cooler, feet propped up and rocking back-and-forth in my lawn chair rocker when all of a sudden I hear the Four Seasons coming thru my earphones.  I immediately pump up the volume to max and for the next 30 minutes or so just listen to "Walk Like a Man," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)," "Rag Doll," "Let's Hang On," "Dawn," "I've Got You Under My Skin," and "Working My Way Back To You."  The only thing missing was "Sherry" (one of my favorites....I know a real cute Sherry), but I know it's on the iPod somewhere.  Like I said: a magical evening under the stars.

While I didn't take the following photo, I found it online and it comes very close to what I remember last nights sky looked with the grey clouds and the bazillion stars glittering above me.  The moon is just slightly larger in the photo than mine was last night, but still very close.  A most magical night. A glowing fire, a tasty drink, a full tummy, wispy clouds floating above, and a glittering starry universe above me.  Dang, its good to be alive -- and retired!  Cheers to all!