And Grander, too...

 "The Universe grows smaller every day..." 

~ The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951 

I looked out to the patio as I awakened this morning, observing an eerie glow, the music from the original The Day the Earth Stood Still in my head - I had watched it, again, just on Friday.  It's a classic, for sure!

 "Gosh, the moonlight is Magical," I thought, not having quite seen this kind of an effect.

And then, with a smile, I realized what I was looking at, utterly unpredicted, newly arrived since I let the dog out at 5 AM.

Snow!!!

How wondrous a thing can be when you see it anew!  It has not snowed here in 2 years (or at least while I've been home).

The pilot light was out yet again on the hot water heater this morning.  It can be a bit unpredictable every once in a while.  I had notes on how to light it, though I hadn't done it before by myself. 

At first, it wouldn't light, because I had forgotten a step (exactly when to turn the thing to "On" when you prime it!). Then after a very short while, I was washing my coffee pot, feeling the heat of the water in my sink with a kind of a glee. There was just something to it, this business of having a hand in heating the water. Even the water felt new! 

And that's Planet Earth. That's why we are here. "Pilot", indeed...

(And mentioning eerie glows in the night and expansive ways of thinking about movies like The Day the Earth Stood Still, I'm delighted to welcome Stephen Bassett, executive director of Paradigm Research Group and The Congressional Hearings Initiative, on my The Frontier Beyond Fear Blog Talk Radio program to usher in the New Year!  You decide for yourself: Science fiction or real?  (If you listen closely, you will hear Truth.)  Join us this Tuesday, January 5, at Noon Pacific/3 PM Eastern, or listen to the archived podcast afterwards - visit www.frontierbeyondfear.com for details!)