these lovely, empty hours

It's been a while since I sat up alone much longer than "the boys". I find that I do that usually when I am feeling creative & in the middle of a project when they say their nite-nites. But lately, I have been busy with other things and not spent much time with that side of my brain. Neither am I using it tonight. I closed things down in my craft room, wandered into the kitchen where the light was still on- thinking the Capt was at his computer, but finding the common areas of the house empty. Even Dad seems to have gone to bed. I wiped down the dining room table and rinsed a couple of dishes & headed into the bedroom, expecting hubby to be reading ... but his breathing was already heavy with sleep. I wasn't particularly tired, but I saw it as an opportunity to get a few more chapters into A is for Alibi than I normally manage at night. BUT- as I pulled the slider open to bring in some of the night sounds and breeze, I found it still and without it's normal 11pm+ chill. So here I am, with my IPAD at my elbow for WWF, and in the mood to ponder. It's warmer at this moment that it was at 10am this morning when I sat here enjoying a hot chai latte. The marine layer is still far off the land, leaving the black sky & pin point stars to avoid their normal curfew. I'm accompanied only by the babble of our fountain, and my thoughts. Traffic begins to thin by this hour, but it ceases to bother me anyway- as I imagine it to be waves of water rather than sound. The hour, the night .... is everything I want it to be right here, right now .... mine. To listen to or stare out at, or to design or invent what might be going on where a street light flickers, or a hint of sound comes from. It's all mine, to do with what I like.
I think I shall pull it all into my mind and save it for another moment that may be less perfect than this ......