I walked out very late last night to salt the steps and walkways, there was supposed to be freezing rain, which thankfully arrived as snow instead. The landscape was bright, there are a few street lights along the roadway, and and some illumination from the near-by houses, but basically the moon and the headlights of passing vehicles light our nights.
A warm night for January, I couldn't resist standing very still and listening for owls, the only thing I heard was the sound of distant traffic, and walking out past the canopy of the Norway spruce, I could see the the waxing moon surrounded by a glorious halo.
Tomorrow is the first full moon of 2011. The moon that has been called the Old moon, the Wolf Moon, Moon after Yule, and the Full Snow Moon. because of it's relationship to the horizon this moon will appear larger than usual.
Perhaps I would call this the Reading Moon, because if it is visible through the clouds which seems unlikely, the reflection off the fresh snow will make it very bright indeed.
