As a wise man once said, “from there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere,” or at least, three feet in front of me and moving fast.
With some luck I avoided walking straight into the flank of the buck deer crossing the sidewalk in front of me. Silent and swift, he was across the street and blinking at me from the pine trees yonder in a flash. There is a lot to be seen in the neighborhood at 4:50 AM, including apparently, deer.
In these summer months I marvel at the bustling before-dawn world that plays out as most humans sleep. Come winter, with snow, ice, and sub-zero, there isn’t a songbird to be heard, unlike now when the robins pluck up the tune at around 4:20 AM.
Earlier this week, one particularly vocal robin conducted his fellows while perched upon the mailbox of number 5668. In my three circuits of that street, the bird never budged from his perch, unbothered by my quiet passage.
The birds and critters of the nighttime no longer run from me. Sometime earlier this summer I passed a mileage or other marker, and am no longer deemed a threat worth fleeing. Stray cats, rabbits, skunk, fox, and even a low-slung groundhog do not find enough menace in me to turn tail. The bats are interested only in insects above my head. I’m good with that.
Looking up, the stars and planets dazzle as the universe slowly turns. The waxing and waning moon is a fine and true companion. Bright orange Mars is a feature in the morning sky these days.
Lately my thoughts have turned to the rover, Opportunity, on the Martian surface. The plucky rover has been silenced for weeks as a dust storm engulfs the planet, prohibiting the trusty traveler from recharging its solar-powered batteries. Mission Specialists say Opportunity is hunkered down until the storm passes, let’s hope it is so.
At other times, shooting stars light up the sky. Yesterday morning the International Space Station (ISS) made a pass overhead. I waved.
Like the critters and the stars, I am usually on my way by the time dawn streaks from east to west. Sunrise is a different gift altogether, and on comes day.
Shouldn't...but Do 
You know, we live so far apart, yet your experiences and your thoughts are SIMILAR to mine!!!
I too love the magic as the animals either get up or go to bed. I stayed up the other night looking at the orange sparkling planet and was certain it was an UFO, untill I looked with my binoculars and realized it was Mars. I also thought about “the traveller” and even wondered if that satelite station you mentioned would ever be something I saw.
I feel connected. To earth. The Universe. And you. And our mutual experiences that now therefore are shared.
Love from your Danish Friend 🙂