Sometimes I am reminded that these mountains, lakes, grasslands and forests are part of a planet spinning among the stars. I followed the coyotes up into the hills again yesterday afternoon.

Coyote Trail
There was a lot of traffic in the early morning. Many parallel trails moved up and down from the plateau that we call the top of the hills.

For their part, the coyotes were loosely following ring-necked pheasants. I scared up four male pheasants out of the mock orange of a ravine, but no females.

Pheasant Track in the Sagebrush
This fellow passed through after the coyotes were long gone.

 And then I glanced over my shoulder and saw the planet turning in space, and realized that the coyotes, the pheasants, and I were all along for the ride. Pheasants as space travellers. I like that.

The Curves of the Planet Folding Down into the Water.
Look how the grasses and the water are catching the low winter sun and glowing with it. The lake, too, is the colour of the grass.  To put it another way, the grass is the colour of the lake.

Forty minutes later I was on my way back down, slip-sliding through the sagebrush on the steep hillsides in the snow, and then …

All the Light in the World
As the day draws to its close, all the light in the world drains down out of the grassland hills and pools in the water.

Something I have known for a long time as an idea was suddenly made real to me. A thousand years ago, the moon was known for its seas and its marshes. (Do click on the links. The relief photos of the moon’s seas are really cool.) When Galileo set up his telescope and showed that those weren’t really seas it was the end of an understanding of the earth. Yes, the earth. Galileo was right, of course, and the water was the wrong idea, of course, and geese didn’t overwinter there, and all that, but the correspondence between water and the moon was correct. Aside from the obvious connection of the tides, they both reflect the light of the sun. Long before the dark ages, men knew this. Galileo forgot it. I learned it again yesterday.

The Moon, Glowing Between the Hills

Or rising, if you will.

And that’s how you can stare into the face of the sun and not go blind.

I love this planet.