There’s a moment in this desert, dawn and dusk, when the sun hits the spines of the cholla and prickly pear and saguaro just so, making them glow with gold light, making the air all around them seem to shimmer with that same gold light, the magic within all the things of the world brought to the surface, turned visible.

Only for a moment, a few moments.

With the sun rising later and the cool now touching the mornings urging me out for a walk, I caught that moment while on a dirt city path. My steps seemed suddenly loud. I slowed them near to silence, and watched the quail move about, unhurried, beneath the cactus pads before heading more quickly on.

Shanah tovah. For those of us are starting a new year tonight, may it be filled with hints of joy and sweetness and light.

And may it be a bright and shining autumn (or spring, south of the equator) for us all.