Under Crisp December Stars
By Julie Horner
There is a secret spot in the forest near home in Boulder Creek. Castaways for the holidays by choice, we pack a feast and our musical instruments and head northwest a few miles on a narrow byway badly pitted and pocked but all to ourselves above Big Basin. Conspicuously the sole vehicle in the pullout, we scurry through the State Park gates for fear of being found out.
The trees welcome travelers without judgement. The half mile or so on foot with our burdens is small price to pay for a day spent into the night on the bosom of the mountain uninterrupted by human or beast or any sound except the melody we make, we two.
There used to be a picnic bench in the clearing, and from our perch we’d welcome December’s warmth. Evening comes early and day’s light slips behind waves of purple treetops, each more distant and hazy than the next as they fade toward the sea. Nothing to break the still as night falls except our breath in the gathering chill. Bundled together, safe beneath a sheltering sky.
We wish you a warm, bright, and healthy holiday season!
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