The weather turned cold on Thursday (19 degrees in the morning!) and has gradually built up again so that returning from a weekend workshop tonight, the temperature was 52. More about the workshop later. For now let's talk about the magical sight that greeted me on two early mornings as I drove to UNM for the workshop. Balloons! Balloons in the sun. Balloons against the mountains. And more balloons! The valley filled with them. Launched from a field in town, dotting the hazy autumn sky like slow motion floating confetti.
I was late for class because I kept stopping to take pictures! I drove irresponsibly, pulling over, pulling out, but there was hardly anyone on the road so early and probably those who might have been on the road were in the field watching the launch closeup -- which is pretty dramatic when it starts at dawn. Fire. Cold. Hot coffee. Whoosing sounds. Huge balloons unfolded, fluffed up and filled with hot air. People in small baskets rising into the morning sky. Waving. Like a scene from The Wizard of Oz. Once we went there to watch the launch with daughter and granddaughter when they came to visit. A long time ago. I can't bear to go again, without them.
another kind of rising
At a few minutes after midnight, tonight's moon will be full. It's huge. So perfect with silver light and portent of winter. But tonight I watch it rise over the mountain. For as many years as I've seen this, it still registers as awesome.
and something falls
At the same moments that the moon rose in the east, the sun was sinking into the western horizon. On the second floor deck I turned quickly -- one up, one down. Double awesome!
I send these pictures to my family and friends in the east, with love and a wish that they could share it with me tonight -- and every other night to come. There's a price to pay for every decision we make. Mine is billed by distance, unassailable, 2200 miles that might as well be light years.
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