“Now I’m being followed by a
moonshadow….” ~Cat Stevens
Why do I always hydrate at
night? Actually, I keep myself pretty
well hydrated all day so it shouldn’t come as any great surprise to me when I
need to get up at 2 or 3 or 4 in the morning to, “water the porcelain,” as a
friend of mine might say. I’m always
grateful to be up though, as it gives me an opportunity to look out the window,
to gaze outdoors which is where I really long to be.
Last night’s full moon rose at
4:30PM and set at 7:03AM. The 2 sliders
in the corner of my kitchen, facing east and north, allow for a great view of
it when it rises and this time of year, with the leaves off the trees, it is particularly
pleasing to me to see the moon through the silhouetted trees. There is just something very appealing about
it, something very calming. The bare
branches of the trees against the sky and the moon high and bright in the sky
are stunning by themselves but when the moon is still low and shinning through
the trees, it’s just beautiful. It was an extremely clear night. I had to pull myself away from the kitchen
sliders when I realized I’d been standing there, just staring at the moon
through the trees for more than a few minutes.
Can’t stand there all night, after all.
Would that I could though; would that I could!
So when I woke in the night,
closer to morning actually at around 4:30 I think, I found myself again looking
outside, staring out the bathroom window.
My window faces NNE and the moon would have been in the west, getting
low in the sky, 2 ½ hours before it would be dipping below the horizon. Although I couldn’t see the moon directly, it
cast long magnificent shadows of the trees in my backyard. It was so bright out, yet the sky still dark
with twinkling stars. Objects outside
were eerily illuminated as in some sort of surreal fairy tale or dream. The clear moonlit sky with the grass and
stonewalls so brightly lit, really made the long shadows of the trees just jump
right out. Immediately upon looking
outside at this spectacular sight, I said out loud to myself;
“moonshadow!” And I have had this Cat
Stevens song in my head ever since! Good
thing I like Cat Stevens. Gotta love the
Cat!
Now, a few days later, as I
continue to write this post I am still “leaping and hopping on a
moonshadow.” I much prefer this new tune
than the last one that I had stuck in my head!
I had forgotten to mention
that there was a lunar eclipse on the night of the full moon. This would have been in the western sky in “the
wee small hours of the morning” on Saturday 12/10. I had gotten my dates mixed up and thought it
was going to be the following night and so I missed it. My big sis in Seattle (ok, actually she lives
in Ellensburg which is 90 minutes east of Seattle but really, doesn’t saying
“sis in Seattle” just sound better?!
Sorry Bon!) said that we in the northeast wouldn’t have been able to see
it anyway. And when I talked to my son
in Cambridge, who studied Astrophysics and has a master’s degree in physics, he
said, “what eclipse?” Apparently this
lunar eclipse wasn’t such a big deal but I still sure would like to have seen
it. I saw one last year which was pretty
cool. The moon doesn’t disappear in the
earth’s shadow but rather, it turns this pale orange color which is really spooky
to see and so out of place when the moon is up high in the sky. When the moon is low and rising it often
appears orange which is what you’d expect, though. Lunar eclipses aren’t that rare and of course
there is the famous eclipse on the night the Red Sox won the World Series in
2004. I guess that’s what the Sox
needed; the sun and earth and moon to align just right in order for them to win
and break the curse of the Bambino. Done
and done!
This brings to mind the solar
eclipse I saw with my family in 1972. It
was in the summer and I was 15. We
traveled alot in the summers because my Dad was a teacher and had the summers
off. We had a school bus that he
converted into a most excellent camper.
So we drove out to P-town on the Cape where we would be in the penumbra
of the eclipse; not quite “total” from our view point but totally awesome. The total eclipse could be seen in Nova
Scotia. This is the eclipse made famous
in the Carly Simon song, “You’re So Vain.”
You know it: “Then you flew your Learjet up to Nova Scotia to see the
total eclipse of the sun.” Additionally,
in Steven King’s “Delores Claiborne,” which was set and filmed in Nova Scotia, Delores
Claiborne (played by the incomparable Kathy Bates) famously leads her husband
to a trap where he falls down a deep abandoned well, during this very same
total eclipse, and leaves him there to die.
The incestuous bastard really deserved it. (Have you seen the movie?) I do like the actor who played the character
though and I love Kathy Bates. And I
like the famous line, “sometimes being a bitch is all a woman has to hang on
to,” and, “sometimes an accident can be an unhappy woman’s best friend.”
Anyway, the eclipse that my
sisters, Mom and Dad and I witnessed was an unbelievable sight. As the light began to fade I remember birds
flitting about, as if caught off guard and unprepared, hurrying to nest for the
“night.” I remember shadows from trees
and telephone poles and other objects, taking on odd shapes. When the sun is low, near to setting, shadows
grow long of course. But, the sun was
high in the sky and it was a clear day; no clouds. So when the moon began to pass in front of
the sun, I just remember noticing how odd the shadows were and how different
the light seemed. The light was fading
quickly, to near black, from directly above rather than from the horizon and
resulting effect was like nothing else I had ever seen before. It was breath taking. Although I hadn’t thought about this in a
long time, I remember this now today, nearly 40 years later, so clearly, as if
it were just yesterday. I remember the
gulls screeching, the breeze in the air, the warmth of the sun, my sisters and
all the other folks who gathered, craning their necks to see the sun disappear overhead
and the magnificent corona created by the eclipse.
If you ever get the
opportunity to see such an event, I highly recommend it.
Now this brings me to Tuesday
night; 12/13/11. I was thrilled when I
realized that I would be treated to the Geminids meteor shower and that I
wouldn’t have to drag myself out of bed at 3 AM to see it. I could go out at 9 or 10. Perfect!
I had, in past years, dragged myself out of bed to bear witness to such
events, only to be disappointed by overcast skies or to find that I had somehow
managed to arrive too late for the party and there was nothing to see. Tuesday night was a clear gorgeous
night. I was under the mistaken
impression that I had to view the meteors in the eastern sky. Well, I have a view to my east but not in the
lower sky, only up higher. I didn’t know
exactly where in the east to look so I decided to hop in my car and drive the 2
½ miles down the road where I knew I could see the entire eastern sky with no
obstructions. I drove down Flanders Rd
and pulled over just opposite of the field where the cows are, put on my
flashers and hopped out of the car. I
used the compass on my IPhone to be sure I was looking east and I was. It wasn’t cold out at all. Maybe 40 degrees. It was about 9 o’clock now.
I should say here that for the
past few nights, prior to this, I had been enjoying the moon rises and the
bright moonlight, as I had earlier written.
This very bright moon created a problem Tuesday night. Moon rise was at 7:32 PM and now, at 9, not only
was this big beautiful orb smack in the middle of my viewing field; it was
washing out the entire eastern sky. The
stars were so faint on this moonlit night that I wondered whether or not I
would be able to see meteors. After
looking into the sky for 10 minutes or so with no luck, I decided to head back. I had no regrets. The night was absolutely gorgeous. I could have stayed out for hours.
When I pulled back into my driveway
I checked the news article about the Geminids on my IPhone. It turns out that the meteors would be
visible in any part of the sky not just in the east. You see, it pays to read the whole article
and not just skim. Lesson learned. I got out of the car, leaning my back against
it now and looking toward the southern part of the night sky. I immediately saw my first “shooting star.” It lasted no longer than one second and was
just a streak. I kept
watching and saw another. Now I’m hooked. The Geminids, though, promised to be a show
of big fireballs with visible flames streaking across the sky for several
seconds at a time and with huge magnificent tails trailing behind. My youngest son told me of such a meteor he
saw a few months back. I watched
patiently, hopeful and excited now. I
wanted my fireball.
Six, seven, eight “shooting
stars” but no fireballs. Oh well. It had only been 10 minutes and I realized
that the near full moon that I had worshipped all week was just not going to
let this spectacular show unfold. I
loved seeing the meteors, though. I
mean, on an ordinary night when I am just looking at the sky and I happen to
see a shooting star, I am just thrilled beyond words. It’s just so exciting. And now I’ve just seen 8!
I decided to call it a night,
hopeful now that at least 1 of my 8 wishes would come true.
