Into the Wild

This was the view out my window this morning at sunrise. We're staying on a remote sheep ranch on the banks of Lake Pukaki. The lake's color is difficult to pinpoint. Is it teal? Turquoise? Aqua marine? Whatever the name, the water is at once clear--a perfect reflective surface--and opaque. Out of the frame on the right towers powerful Mt Cook, called Aoraki in Maori, which means "cloud piercer." Today we hiked in its shadow and watched clouds swirl over and around the peak. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night, after the moon had risen and set. Orion the archer was hanging in the sky above the lake surrounded by more stars than I've seen since my parents took the family camping in the Rocky Mountains as a kid. I could see part of the Milky Way spread from one corner of my window to the other. Just as I was marveling at the breath-taking sight of it all, a shooting star flared in the sky next to Orion. With a contented sigh, I snuggled further under my blankets and fell back to sleep. I could get used to this.