Racing the Setting Sun ... and The Rising Moon

What a beautiful afternoon/evening for a run.

I arrived home, checked on the dinner in the crockpot: roast beef, added the BBQ, shredded it all up and made sure I had plenty of whole wheat buns. I watched the boys don their winter boots and clothing and head off to slide down the hill. Topaz and I headed for the trail.

The temperature was 34F! Wow, a heatwave! Only a earband was necessary, ONE shirt, a jacket and ONE pair of pants with gloves. It sure felt nice without all of the layers.

I strapped on my snowshoes and headed off toward the river, cutting through the meadows, following the deer trail through the thick woods. Topaz was pretending he was a deer, gracefully extending his legs over the rocks and snow drifts. Pretty soon he was following a group of 8 deer, his white tail bobbing along, making 9 white tails in a row. My goodness, the dog was in heaven, loping along with the deer. As he caught them, he turned around, looked for me and darted back as fast as he could. I was grateful that he didn't herd them toward me this time.

After a few miles we reached the river. I could see that small critters had navigated over the ice. I don't dare to cross over the thin ice. I called Topaz back, I didn't think he would cross, but I wasn't sure. We headed back the way we came, through the meadow, then the deep woods, following the deer path.

Pretty soon the sun cast a beautiful pink glow upon the snow. It looked as if we were under pink lights. What a perfect place to be.

I looked up, the sun was setting and the moon began to rise. Beautiful. I didn't want to be anywhere else but on that trail, in the pink glow, enjoying myself immensely.

What a treat.