Sunrise/Moonset

The full moon is setting just as the sun is about to rise. There's something magnificent about this timing, something that inspires me to go outside and try to stare at the whole sky at once. Venus and Jupiter still glimmer in the pre-dawn light, though the other planets are now too faint to make out.

It would take a better photographer than I to capture it, and I won't try. With digital cameras making it so easy to take tons of pictures, I've discovered something...taking pictures is wonderful, but it's also a distraction. I can't say how many times I had to stop myself trying to snap the perfect scene on a road trip because it wasn't coming out or we couldn't stop the car and I'd get more and more frustrated and forget to just enjoy the moment. Photographs help to remember the moment - but the zeal in getting the perfect shot can take you out of the moment you're trying to capture.

Well, it does that to me, anyway.

The January full moon is called Cold Moon, Snow Moon, Wolf Moon, depending on who you ask (and, presumably, what part of the world you're in; my perspective is always going to reflect North America and the climate of Colorado). Cold and Snow are pretty self-explanatory; Wolf Moon comes from the howling of hungry wolves outside, while the people huddled in their lodges during the long dark nights.

Photodisc/Getty Images; Licensed to About.com

However, the sunsets are later and the days are a wee bit longer, even now. Somebody posted '57 days to spring' on Facebook a couple of days ago, and I have to admit, the older I get, the less I enjoy winter and the more I look forward to the return of the green.

In the meantime, though, winter has a beauty all its own. The cold crisp air and the sparkle of the stars in the night sky. Silver moonlight across the snow. And while it was in the 50s yesterday, it's going to snow again soon - tonight, I think - and there's something about the changeability of the weather that will always make me love my home.

Because it is home.

Denver plays New England for the AFC Championship today. Go Broncos!