A most magical experience happened to me today. I was on my daily hike down to the creek. (Some of you have seen a page I put up about it here during the Summer.) Deer creek runs down a gentle ravine with columns of high hills on each side, covered in Oak, Cedar, and Pine. It's a very beautiful place, and I feel the faeries are watching me from the fern covered grottos and mossy clefts as I walk, listening to birds singing and waters tumbling.

Anyways today was overcast, with thick skies just a few thousand feet overhead, and no breezes whatsoever. Then, as I reached the end of the switchback facing West, something absolutely magical happened. It began with a distant whooshing roar of sorts. I looked curiously to the West, wondering if perhaps I was hearing heavy rain coming. Instead though I could see distant tree tops bending towards me, then closer ones, and closer ones. That's when it happened: All of a sudden a huge white dragon came rushing up the ravine to my right level with me, obscuring the hills. Moving incredibly fast, this long, white cloud, uncannily resembling some huge Chinese parade dragon, came rushing by on it's way up the ravine. It was immense and glorious, the wind carrying it suddenly embracing and buffeting me all at once. The air immediately smelled extra wonderful and cold as I instinctively folded my arms about me, gazing at it in stupified astonishment. It was as if the wizard Dumbledoor had just commenced some magical event in the Hogwarts hall! I looked upwards wondering if this would bring rain too, but no, that never came. Just the fresh coolness whipping all about... As I watched, the dragon's tail wisped quickly on by following the rest of it's body, and at the last of that the wind died down, everything returning back to normal.

It was so amazing and I'll never forget it. The magic of nature.