As I drive northbound up Hwy 20 toward my home I look out my left side window and see a spectacular sunset hovering just above the waters of the Puget Sound with colors of ever changing hue. Shades of pastel pink, something close to purple that melds into baby-blanket blue. And out my right side window the moon is brilliant yellow and large as it rises barely above the tips of the Cascade mountain foothills.

The air is cold, the sights are warm. A winter's night settles in.