I exited my house and started walking to the curb to put a letter in the mailbox in front of my house at approximately 10:10 pm. my street has no street lights and most of my neighbors are elderly so it is rather dark in front of my house at night even though i live in the city. almost directly in front of me at approximately 30' above the horizon i saw a bright flash. a blue-white teardrop-shaped glowing light began falling down directly in front of me, leaving a long, thick glowing white trail behind it. i estimate it was approximately 1/2 mile away from me, but could not be certain because it was so dark it was hard to see the surrounding trees and buildings. i immediately thought i was observing a brilliant meteor falling to earth, but the object abruptly slowed as it reached the bottom of its path, hovered for a split-second and then disappeared. this is the second strange object i have seen from my current residence.