Bird Moon Red Elm Blue Sky

It was an awesome day from start to finish. I began it at the Arboretum, ostensibly stopping in to check on the status of the decorations and tree. The holidays are coming! 

The good news is that the tree is up in the Glass House, but there is still much decorating work to be done on it before the big winter celebration on Friday night. There is a skiff of ice on the lily pond. The wind blew cold there as this day began.

But the biggest news of the morning was still the moon, which remains quite full even after its exhausting weekend of making appearances all over the world as the "Supermoon."

I spotted the moon the instant I arrived, and I thought to myself: "BINGO! It's show time!" The very FIRST thing I did was to walk over and photograph it through the craggy branches of the Arboretum's famous red elm.

There were two little birds in the red elm, and I stepped around, this way and that, until I could position myself with a bird-moon view such as what you may see above. The sky was a luxurious shade of blue, and it seemed cheery to me (but cold); I took my photos, I wished for gloves.

More good stuff was on its way. I had a lunch date and gift exchange with dear old friends at The Field at Toftrees. Alas, their menu no longer includes the wonderful, huge onion rings I got the first time I went there last spring.

So instead, I ordered The Field Burger, which you may view in the extras. According to the menu, their burgers are a blend of sirloin, chuck, brisket, and short rib. This one was topped with leaf lettuce, red onion, tomato, cheddar cheese, all on a brioche roll, and served with a side of house-made, salted chips. It just might have been one of the best burgers I've ever had in my life.

I had a meeting downtown in the afternoon, so I headed directly for downtown and campus. I parked in the parking garage on Fraser Street and discovered I had a bit of time to walk around before my meeting began.

So I wandered over to College Ave. and from there I looked up and caught my breath. What a gorgeous view of Old Main under a perfect blue sky! I stopped to take several photos with my camera, feeling very happy indeed to be alive, and to be standing exactly where I was standing.

In a few minutes, I would walk inside Old Main and visit its lovely blue and white Christmas tree, as I do each December. In fact, a picture of that tree was my very first blip! :-)

Suddenly I felt a presence right next to me. I could have reached out my left hand and touched him. A young man - a student? - was standing beside me, looking to see what I was photographing.

He lifted his cell phone to take a picture too. "Old Main, in all its glory," he said, with happy appreciation, as we both clicked our photos, exchanged one brief, big smile, and parted ways.

I was listening to Jewel's Christmas CD on my drive to work on this morning and there was a song on it that had resonance for me. The song is A Life Uncommon, and I thought of it often on this beautiful day.

I have seen so many things. So many ordinary, glorious, everyday, beautiful things. My life is full of beauties. I am grateful to live a life uncommon.