Leaving

Hi everyone,

Dakota winter’s really have a magic feel. Today when I closed the automatic garage door I thought I noticed sparks. When I squinted in the bright sunlight they were actually miniscule ice particles shimmering in the air. I hadn’t seen this before, and the spectacle followed us all the way to our nearest town, Highmore, about 20 miles away. According to a local rancher, the phenomenon only occurs when there is absolutely no wind, no clouds and brilliant sunshine. The sides of the road glittered with a gazillion diamonds that gave you the false impression that we could be surrounded by a fortune. The effect was everywhere. Even as we drove, diamonds flickered in the windscreen and above the road. It seemed like I had something a little stronger than a cup of tea for breakfast because I then saw a mirage in the distance to our left which looked like the turquoise waters of the ocean in Broome. As soon as I mentioned it to Kate we both felt a sense of longing to be back ‘home’ and expected to even see a ship out there on the horizon. As we drew closer to the town the mirage was enhanced by a black haze from a fire to our right that had spread sideways across the sky in front of us giving the impression of cliffs across a bay – very similar to the landscape at Prices Point up the coast from Broome.

We did our shopping in the local grocery store and as we headed home our breath was taken away by a cloud of sparkling ice particles. Kate said this is known as a snow shower and usually results from the wind blowing these tiny dust like fragments from the tree branches lining the road.