It was one of those nights last night.  The kind where the room feels alternately too hot and too cold, the dogs make noises in their sleep and the little worry goblins in my head refused to quiet down and let me sleep.

Between laying my head on the pillow and rising with the sun, I got up four different times.

I woke up groggy, unhappy and anxious.  My back hurt, so I decided to have a soak in the hot tub before starting my busy day.

The air on the deck was cool and crisp. The sky was a perfect, flawless blue.  I lay back in the steamy water, letting my head rest as the jets massaged my neck and shoulders.

Most of the forest was still in shadow, but there was one small patch of emerald green where the sunlight broke through the dense leaves. From where I sat, that one little spot glowed like a patch of Irish hillside. It looked like magic.

Far up above me, I saw the slightest sliver of a crescent moon, barely visible in the morning sky.

As I lay there, nearly dreaming, a tiny something hummed past my right ear. I turned my head quickly, just in time to see a glittering jewel of a humming bird, paused at the red feeder. She held herself poised there for just a moment, her little wings moving so quickly that she seemed to be wrapped in a gauzy cloak. One sip, and she darted away.

After a moment, I rose from the water to face the coming day.