Taking back the night

Driving home at midnight, a light blue high in the sky, rose hue on the horizon with graduated azure progressing from light to dark toward land in the west. For a brief moment on a rise and between trees, Mount McKinley and Mount Foraker rise above the treeline a somewhat shadowy white against the other colors somewhere more than 100 miles away. On the blue highway no porcupines yet and Green Day seems late; it was May 8 last year but still not here this year. Most of the ice is off the swan pond and bright petunias are filling the kitchen table, so it can’t be far off. Half a silver-colored moon does what it can to add to the available light. Remindful of that song line “May was full of promises, but didn’t keep them quick enough for some.” Those promises actually failed miserably at least on a figurative level. They will eventually produce in a more tangible way and that progress starts today with taking the petunias outdoors for hardening. Doing so and working around outside may be hardening for me as well, something I am in need of after more than a week of setbacks.