Lovely Moments

I'm a really visual person- I suppose that is natural for an artist- so I find beauty very inspiring. Which is a bit difficult in the high desert, as desert beauty is all about moments, seasons, and times of day.  The spring is lovely here, for example. If you walk out into the desert you find tiny little mountain flowers: lupine, Indian paintbrush, and phlox. When you hike in Lamoille Canyon you can literally find spring flowers up until the snow flies again, for spring comes as the snow melts in the high mountain peaks.

Sunsets are also lovely- the colors are usually quite intense, and they stretch across the sky.   

But right now it's very cold. Winter has finally come, so the snow has been dusting down the last two days, light and dry for the skiers.  

I went for a walk last night, a bit on the late site. It's been a long week. The moon was out, and the wind blowing so that it was quite cold.  Stars were visible for long moments, then shrouded in clouds again. There was a moment when I turned around, and realized the wind had blown the light snow into a billowing low cloud, all along the ground and to about three stories high. It wasn't readily visible unless illuminated by the homes, street lamps, and cars. It moved and swirled like the northern lights, but on the ground, and look like it was lit from within. It took me a moment to figure out what was going on, to be honest. One of those lovely and eerie moments, that you only see when you get outside once in awhile.