Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Day and night #phenology

Cloud cover did us in this morning. We could see a brightness in the sky behind the clouds, but that was the extend of our enjoyment of this morning's Super Blue Blood Moon. The Better Half got a glimpse of the (partial) eclipse as she drove to work, and called us to say "Go look!" We did. The clouds were still there. Nevertheless, not all has been lost. A day or so ago we managed to get some shots late in the afternoon. This moon is blue, not blood, and we'll leave the question of Super up to you! Did you know that Elvis Presley (for the older readers of this post) had a great recording of both Blue Moon and Blue Moon of Kentucky. Most millennials will say Who?

99% of January's Super Blue Moon
99% of January's Super Blue Moon
Photo by J. Harrington

99% of January's Super Blue Moon
99% of January's Super Blue Moon
Photo by J. Harrington

We've almost made it through January. That deserves, if not a full-fledged celebration, at least a sigh of relief. Then, after Ground Hog Day, and the Super Bowl, things can return to what passes for normal around here. We'll have almost an additional hour's worth of daylight by the end of February, to go with the hour we've gained since Solstice. John Denver was right about sunshine.

Full Moon



Good God! 
What did I dream last night? 
I dreamt I was the moon. 
I woke and found myself still asleep. 

It was like this: my face misted up from inside 
And I came and went at will through a little peephole. 
I had no voice, no mouth, nothing to express my trouble, 
except my shadows leaning downhill, not quite parallel. 

Something needs to be said to describe my moonlight. 
Almost frost but softer, almost ash but wholer. 
Made almost of water, which has strictly speaking 
No feature, but a kind of counter-light, call it insight. 

Like in woods, when they jostle their hooded shapes, 
Their heads congealed together, having murdered each other, 
There are moon-beings, sound-beings, such as deer and half-deer 
Passing through there, whose eyes can pierce through things. 

I was like that: visible invisible visible invisible. 
There's no material as variable as moonlight. 
I was climbing, clinging to the underneath of my bones, thinking: 
Good God! Who have I been last night?



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