It was a couple of weeks ago, Thursday Sept. 18th. I was spending a week at a painting workshop staying at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos. In the middle of the night (3am) my eyes blinked open and sort of on automatic pilot I got my flashlight, walked down an unknown path off the hotel grounds into the desert (which I later found out was Anasazi land), and looked up to see a marvelous sight...6 or 7 dense, huge, bright clusters of stars, roughly diamond shaped clusters, lights turning on and off like someone was playing with a light switch. The sky around these discreet clusters was blue/black...like islands in a dark ocean, the little dipper was over my left shoulder fairly low in the sky. I've been told it was probably something from Los Alamos. I went in for my annual physical and the doc said to stop taking Ambien, that I was sleepwalking. A friend asked suspiciously "Were you the only one there"?, another friend sited an article in the NYTimes on lightening-induced 'sprites'.I suppose there's an alternative conclusion but what is so strange and compelling for me is the fact that I'm not comfortable in nature even with friends and for sure I wouldn't go out alone in the middle of the night to a desert I didn't know existed. I'm also a germaphobe. This sounds so dumb but i have my indoor slippers that NEVER go outside but I slipped them on without hesitation. I had in fact not gone on the 2 field trips during the painting workshop because I'm pathologically afraid of snakes, all reptiles, but not even easy with dogs, cats, insects, dirt...well you get the picture, nature woman I am not! So for me to without hesitation wake up and walk into the desert without an iota of fear is just impossible when I reflect on it. I did a painting the next day to capture what I saw so will attach it.I'd love to know if anyone else in the area saw what I saw. I stood out there for about 15 minutes until i heard a dog start howling and decided to go back inside.best,CPp.s. I'm pretty sure it was Sept 18th but it could have been a night before or after.

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