Last Night's Orb Bliss

When it comes to real-time orb-spotting, it seems like I'm always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

So, you can imagine my surprise and delight as, after dinner last night with my good friends Chip and Leonetta Mueller (at the Ruby's Diner at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa), I saw my first ever ascending column of orbs.

It was breathtaking and somewhat unreal.

As we stood at the top of the escalator, just before the exit door to the Bridge of Gardens, I could do nothing more than gawk and marvel.

It was a good thing Leonetta had the presence of mind to snap these two sensational pics with her cell phone - because Chip and I were too far gone.

The cluster of semi-transparent orbs boiled up out of the floor, rising slowly, all the while remaining in a strict column - as if contained by an invisible tube.

No single one of them ever touched its neighbor, as each waterclear orb seemed to instinctively know the exact location of every other orb as they elegantly swirled and rose.

Upon reaching the high ceiling, each orb hesitated for only the briefest of moments before popping through the obstruction and disappearing from sight.

So intoxicated were we at observing such an enchanting spectral ballet that we stood around at the top of that escalator excitedly rehashing the experience for the greater part of an hour-and-a-half, then retired to Chip's Toyota Scion xD in the parking lot, where we continued to talk expansively for the next hour and 20 mins.

The spell of that night has yet to be broken.