Knowing the full moon was shining and the hoar frost sharp, I went out into the garden closing the door on the yellow light of the room behind me. Suddenly a different world; silent, frozen literally into stillness, everything either dark or silvery bright where the moonlight landed, black shadows looming where it did not reach. Looking back at the house now massive in these contrasting shades, it seemed a presence as if unknown to me – as if I were some stranger in a realm often available but seldom visited. Surrounded by stars, some brilliant against deep black, some tiny almost blinded by the moon, Orion was hanging in its iconic place: the bird seed holder so far below motionless without a visitor; a great spread of sky constrained by lines, shades, shaped shadows and the sheer bulk of the emptied house; no one there, simply a witness to where the vast silence of outer space touched down upon the lawn.