Season's Greetings

I was in LaCrosse, Wisconsin yesterday for an agility trial, and it finished about 6 pm. I wasn't looking forward to the 2 1/2 hour drive home in the dark, but the roads had been clear on the way down Friday afternoon (after our blizzard--LaCrosse got about 18" of snow) so I loaded up and headed out.
As it turned out, things weren't nearly as dark as I thought they'd be.
The snow reflected any light--headlights, streetlights, ubiquitous transmission towers, farmstead security lights--you name it and the snow brightened it.

The sky was cloudy, so the lights from all the small towns along the way were also reflected at that level--the nearly-pink color of winter sky.

But the most entertaining lights were those adorning seemingly every house between there and here. I can remember the energy crisis of the 70s when everyone was encouraged to cease this practice. Today, "icicles" frame the rooflines. Inflated snow globes bob and weave. Electric deer guard the garden. Snowmen light the way to the front door. Stars and crosses decorate silos.

So I'm not a big fan of all this. I love a string of lights on a tree as much as the next person, and I saw hundreds of those. I suppose families gather in the yard to blow up the reindeer and toss nets of lights on the bushes, then sit in the window gazing in delight. Then it's back to their video games.

I prefer the illumination of the full moon on fresh snow, and a starry sky. There's a meteor shower this week and those lights cannot be bought. Call me old fashioned!