Over the Moon
As a farmer’s daughter, I thought everyone stayed up until about 10:30 just to hear the weather forecast for the following day. As a college and medical student, it meant adjusting the time of getting out of bed–to accommodate snow shoveling or icy roads. Living in coastal Texas, hurricane and tropical storms and this past month–freezing temperatures occupy our weather thoughts.
But this past week–it was CLOUDS. Would it be cloudy for the eclipse? The temperatures would be chilly–but no mind–lots of layers and a diesel truck that didn’t mind just chugging along for us to pop back in to warm hands and noses.
I set up my tripod aiming at the moon. Foolishly I extended the legs to their full extent as though that extra ten inches would make me closer to the moon. I stood on my tippy-toes to reach the zoom feature.
Nothing happened for a long time but I took many pictures of the moon–all its features were clearly visible. I walked down the beach and thought afterwards that we could have driven down the beach about a quarter of a mile and I wouldn’t have had that security light in some of my photos.
And then long afterwards I thought–just photos of the moon? I should include something else to identify the location. It would have been great to include the beach but I would have had to persuade the moon to set in the east and the sun to rise in the west—not a do-able item.
Next year there will be another lunar eclipse–in January–so I will be ready and maybe try a fancier camera—and will definitely bring coffee and doughnuts.
Sylvia Weir Art 