wake up winter

full moon and the first starts coming out

(orion with his bow. . . little does he know just how trendy archery is right now)

True: the night sky here at the Needles is said to be the darkest sky (next to Natural Bridges which is a stones throw south) in the whole United States. When it's a new moon, it is knock-your-socks off amazing. I took these pictures on a full moon which was also beautiful. 

I love storms. I especially love how they roll in so quickly. I swear the colors on the rocks are 10x as brilliant. Liesel and I had fun wandering around watching the dark clouds approach and the sun go down. Brian always says that he gets paid in sunsets. And it's true. The compensation for living in the middle of nowhere is that all winter I feel like I'm peeking in on someone asleep. We got to know a little badger who would come out and sun himself in the same spot every day. And just today Liesel dropped a handful of 'berries' in my hand (which were in fact a bunch of rabbit poop). It's still sleepy but I feel like the desert down here is finally starting to wake up.