Tonight the wind kicked up, though mostly overhead. I trudged along steadily, but above me the branches of the trees were swirling around, throwing twigs to the ground.
Halloween has become the second busiest holiday in the United States. The houses along the streets of Seymour are decked out with Halloween lights and lit jacko'lanterns. My friend Margaret, who lives on the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand, used to think that our holiday lights were foolish until she came here one winter and saw them for herself. She then realized we Americans needed the lights in the winter solstice season. They ward off the darkness and keep our spirits up.
I kept going past the schools and away from city lights. The moon rise decided to come later, so the stars over by the football field were putting on a fine show, not as good as in the forest, but still pretty. The wind out there in the park was stronger, wanting to push me over, but it was simply bracing, clearing my mind.
So I walked through twinkling lights and under starry skies. Winter will come and go and then I'll be back in the forests with their own starry nights.
These are the nights I understand Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and the line from a song I once heard. "The wind is blowing the stars around." It was like that tonight.
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