The first leg of my journey to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was my flight out of Port Columbus, Columbus, Ohio. It had been snowing as I arrived -- huge, wet clumps, the kind that packed so well. There were a lot of empty seats, so I had the aisle and a window (left side). As we climbed, I looked out to the town below. The sun had set about an hour before, and the dark landscape was highlighted with street and house lamps. there were a few cars out on the roads, but the carpet of snow appeared unbroken byt their tracks. Many homes still displayed their Christmas lights. The most striking image, however, were the streetlights themselves. A lot of them emitted a soft, blue light, giving the impression of sparkling jewels splayed out across a blue-white sheet of velvet.

Beautiful.

Dan