To celebrate the return of fresh air, Yulia and I went for a walk. It turned out to be during that magical hour immediately after sun set. That mysterious transitional time between day and night, good and evil, when the light makes everything crisp and beautiful.

The cherry blossoms still scented the air. There were also apple trees blossoming, but they gave no scent.

We saw both ducks and bats in the sky. The ducks flying straight with that frantic beating of wings, the bats chaotically chasing insects in the air.

We saw a part of the woods near the river ravaged by some disease. A few hundred trees stood bare, and at least a dozen had fallen, their roots seemingly withered away.

An old man was grazing cows, and we passed very close to them. I know they are gentle, but I’m cautious around such heavy animals.

We say satellites in the sky. Surprisingly, there was one after the next. A steady flow of minuscule white specs in the dark blue sky. As we were watching, and one of them seemed to turn HUGE. It was probably five time as bright as the brightest star. Then it got small again. I think probably the satellite caught some reflection from the sun at just the right angle.

When we returned home, the day was gone. Night had settled in.

ps – during my morning job, the apple trees were buzzing with honey bees.