Monday 28 September 2015

A Magical Night for a Moondance

Gentle Reader ~~~ Did you see it? The Super Moon, Full Moon, Harvest Moon, Blood Moon last night?

Here in The Shire, it was a middle of the night experience, and I couldn't sleep a wink. I was so worried I'd drift off into the Land of Nod and miss the whole thing, because, for once in a very long time it looked as if we would not be scuppered by the omnipresent cloud cover that spoils so many cosmic events for we folk in the west.

The warm and friendly closing bars of music from Downton Abbey faded {is this really the final series?} but there were still four hours to go before this lunar spectacular commenced. Panic ye not! I set my alarm for 2:00 a.m. but I was so excited that it just kept me going ~~~ I need not have worried.

At 2:00 a.m. the alarm was duly switched off and I put on warm clothing, grabbed my camera and settled myself outside in the cold air of an early Autumn night.  Everything was so incredibly bright, almost as daylight, with long shards of silver light becoming the darkest shadows beyond objects that no longer held the familiarity of daylight ~~~

There was hardly a star in the sky! Suddenly, a barely discernible change crept across the garden, and the first nibble went from our silver hare and Man in the Moon ~~~ it was happening right here, right now ~~~



Slowly, the moon began to disappear, little by little, and as she did so the stars came out in the crisply clear sky until it was so full of millions upon millions of stars, the like of which I cannot recall seeing before.  With a great whoop of joy I could see the Milky Way, a gentle, pale, lighter slash across the dark night sky.

Shooting stars whizzed quickly by, just adding to the magic, as the moon disappeared even more ~~~ eventually turning the eagerly anticipated blood red that is a rare phenomenon indeed ~~~

I felt so peacefully alone, so connected to this wonderful, truly awesome, universe in which I live my small and insignificant life ~~~ it was just me, the moon, and the stars ~~~

I could not resist myself and kicked off my shoes and danced across the dew soaked grass of the lawn ~~~ it just seemed so much the right thing to do!

I stood for over two hours through the night to watch this unfold before my eyes. The moon remained blood red for much longer than I expected and sometime after 4:00 a.m. the first signs of the eclipse ending began. Sometime later, I came back inside, tired and incredibly happy I crawled into my bed to relive the experience in my dreams ~~~





Until next time
Sincerely yours
Deborah

29 comments:

  1. Cloud here some of the time last night but i was asleep anyway! So thank you for sharing those lovely photos.

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  2. Loved seeing your photos and your description was spot on. Your excitement came thru. Well done, thanks for staying up most of the night. It was cloudy here in the Midwest USA so not visible.

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    1. Thanks Sandy. Yes, it was exciting, and I'm sorry you missed it.

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  3. Oh dear Deb, your photos are incredible! I love the way you expressed your joy! How wonderful for you! We had quite a bit of cloud cover, but we were still able to watch through a couple of openings as the clouds raced by. Thank you for sharing the time you enjoyed as we were doing the same (though not as spectacular)! I think you'll need a nap today! ♥

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    1. Thanks Martha Ellen, I'm pleased you managed some glimpses between the clouds.

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  4. Wonderful pictures. Thanks for sharing and have a blessed day.

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  5. As we had rain here, I have lived the night through you and your magical words and photos. Thank you! Dance on, my friend.

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    1. Oh, fiddledeedee on the rain. Dancing with you, my friend!

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  6. Gorgeous photos, Deb! It's such fun to know that we were all doing the very same thing at the same time! We watched from our front yard from 8:00-10:00pm. It felt magical... and so very peaceful! Living near the city, our skies are never completely dark. Nevertheless, it was a spectacular event that we will always remember! So happy that we could share this wonderful experience! ♡

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    1. Yes, Dawn, it is always wonderful knowing we are all under the same moon at night and sun by day. Glad you got to see it, despite the light pollution.

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  7. Beautiful, Deborah! It all WAS very wonderful, wasn't it?

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  8. Dear Deb: Great photos and lovely description! I can just see you dancing across the grass, like one of the Elves of Middle Earth! xo

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    1. Thanks Jane, not sure the Elves would want to see my dancing though!

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  9. We saw it bright and shiny and full but that was it. We were fast asleep during the eclipse. No dedication To our art

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    1. oh, dear, a missed opportunity. I am still suffering from my night without sleep.

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  10. Deborah, your photography is fantastic and your narrative captured my attention and I was THERE! We did not get to see the Blood Moon eclipse here because of the cloud cover so thank you for capturing it for me.

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    1. Thank you for your kind words. I'm so sorry you did not see it, for I know you would have written magically about it yourself.

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  11. Deborah Dearest One!
    So beautiful was that Moon!!! You captured the moment beautifully and the pictures are WONDERFUL!! ((here so many of us, KINDRED FRIENDS, were experiencing this same beautiful
    Lunar phenomenon together!!)) My 93 year old (young) Mommy was out there with me and we giggled and amzed together!! It was wonderful!!
    Blessings warmth and love , Linnie

    ((PS now I have to find that song on YouTube and play it!! xx oo)) ;-)

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    1. Dearest Linnie, thank you! How wonderful your Mommy was able to share this magical event with you. {I was going to link the song, but couldn't find a copyright free link}

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  12. Oh, what a beautiful post and your pics are amazing!! We had torrents of flooding rain here, so no blood moon or moon of any kind for us to see. Glad you were able to experience and dance with this wonderful site!! Hugs from across the sea ~ Donna <3

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    1. Oh, Donna ~~~ so sorry about the floods. Hope you stayed safe and dry? I almost didn't write this journal, but now I glad I did because, even though the photographs aren't brilliant so many who missed it have now shared a little of the fun ~~~Deb xoxo

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  13. I watched it from Québec. It was lovely.

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    1. I'm glad you were able to see this special event!

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    2. And I tagged you today in a Halloween questionnaire.

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  14. I was excited to see this eclipse as well, here it was rather early in the evening, and we almost missed it because it was so low in the sky when it started eclipsing. We drove to a local park with no trees in the way of our view. It was a wonderful red color for sure. I too was glad for no clouds which are quite often present here in Oregon. Since I didn't get to watch much leading up to the eclipse I watched it as it passed and went back to a bright full moon, it was lovely! Your pictures are fabulous! My camera just does no do the trick in any way to capture it properly, one of these days I should get a camera that will since I enjoy sky watching so much! :) Hope you are having a nice fall week! :)

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    1. I'm pleased you were able to see it! As with you in Oregon, we often have a celestial event scuppered by cloud cover rolling in from the Atlantic at the most inopportune moments.
      Just between you and me, my next major purchase may be a telescope! Deb xo

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