We watched the sun sink into the ice-covered sea then drove to the upper part of the boardwalk. The lights along the trail lit the way as we walked the boardwalk for the first time at dusk.
Light lingered on the horizon while deeper shades of blue spread over the bay.
We were the only ones there. Even the animals had deserted the place, retreating to dens and nests for the evening.
A sliver of moon was shining, accompanied by Venus.
Silence added to the eerie feel of the place as darkness embraced the woods. Soon, the beauty of the setting made us forget all else.
Then it started, howling, but different from that of dogs. A lonely sound, it carried in the still, otherwise silent evening air. Foxes! They howled as if to say, "We are here." By the time I was ready to record them, they had fallen silent.
Howling sounds on this short clip are similar to those we heard.
The white trunks of the birches looked to have been created for this place and time.
The lights of the city twinkled in the background. Other trees looked black against the blue sky. The intricate branchlets of one tree reached for the sky like tendrils grasping for the ether.
The pergola by the marsh was framed by the residual light. From that pergola,
the flash of the lighthouse was obvious as it beamed in rotation.
For a few moments in time, all was right with the world.