Moonlight Llama Dancing

(Some tiles, of our two llamas, that I recently painted during a homeschool ceramics workshop)

The night before last was a crisp, cold evening with the brightest, whitest moon in the sky. Here at 7100 feet in the beautiful mountains of Central New Mexico it's easy to feel as if you are a part of the sky, not just walking below it. But with the moon shining so bright, I felt as if I was on stage, and I was beckoned outside to participate in the show.....

My body left dark shadows in front of me as I walked up to our barn between the inky shapes of pinon and juniper. When I arrived at the barn, our two llamas, Cataleya and Catlinite seemed pleased to see me, and both greeted me with a nose rub and a soft breath to my face.

I stepped into the tack room for a moment and rooted around, not really doing anything in particular, when some odd scuffling noises and soft humming drew me back out into the barn. What I saw filled my heart with joy!

The moon shone brightly over the llama's pens, as if they were being spotlighted in our own outdoor theater. And both llamas were dancing.

Their feet tippy-toed back and forth and around in circles, barely touching the earth. At times they kicked up their back legs or their front while twisting their entire bodies sideways.

Their graceful necks arched, curved and twisted up and down and reached up to the sky, as if they were a part of an ancient dance known only to their own kind.

I felt honored that they permitted me to watch and I made sure not to interrupt such a magical moment, afraid that it would end too soon. I really didn't want the dance to stop, even though I was chilled to the bone from the cold night air. I felt sure that noone would ever believe me that such large, odd looking animals could dance so beautifully and gracefully.
I was annoyed at myself for not bringing my video camera. How wonderful it would have been to capture that moment forever on film so I could prove to everyone what I saw, and play it over and over to bring back that magical evening under the bright, shining, winter moon.

Unfortunately, I will have to be satisified with only the memories in my own mind and heart, and I rather doubt that a video could have ever fully captured such a magical moment anyway.
But I do hope that my llamas honor me with another moonlight dance very soon.

One thing is for sure, I will never turn down a walk to the barn and pasture under a brightly, shining moon ever again.