Harvest Moon

Leaving the house in the late evening to go for a bike ride. This is one of the greatest pleasures of living in the Dakotas. I rode all over town this evening, up and down quietly murmuring streets, past houses with the lights on and the curtains open, through campus where kids with backpacks gathered on all corners. I don't know quite how to describe this feeling--this feeling of being so connected to a community that the nighttime doesn't make you feel vulnerable, or that everyone you ride by says "nice night," or that your neighbors don't feel the need to shut doors and pull shades to keep one another out.

And the moon! Did you see the moon tonight? Fat and round, hanging from the sky like a green apple, heavy with sweet water and ready to plop back to the soft earth beneath it. A gorgeous moon, bright and orange enough to harvest corn by.

I haven't lived on the farm I grew up on for a number of years now, but tonight, I felt like I was home.

Yes, a very good moon tonight.