Wednesday, February 20, 2008

LUNAR ECLIPSE.
I spent over an hour and a half, outside, staring up at the sky.The vanilla-wafer moon turned the color of a a summer peach, and then went nearly black for a few seconds, then returned to a pale yellow, and shadows scattered across it, forming a woman's face, veiled in a net of black--it looked like the moon was in mourning...
I am so disappointed that so few people were out, looking up.I was the lone figure standing outside here in suburb-ville. Later, while walking my Golden Retreiver, "Louie", I did see one woman outside, working her camera to try to distill a few wondrous moments.
I can hear crickets at night(even in winter--we are bordering the heavy woods).I wanted to see families out, looking up, breaths held just like mine.I know the people here are busy, parenting children, etc., but if I had children, I'd drag them outside for this. It was like seeing the universe "perform"--all blond-moon-turned-dark-turned-blond again. A faithless moon, a temperamental moon, a moon who cheated on you, and then returned.
I kept trying to get "Louie", to look up(He never did).I've read that bears, chimps and great apes all tend to become still, and watch the sun as it sets. I really don't think it is anthropomorphic to say that these animals can feel some sense of awe, of wonder,even if it's only on a basic level.I wonder if they noticed the moon tonight.
I have provided a Lunar Eclipse Page, in the Links column, to the right of this column. Go on, go see what NASA has for you!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds fab. I once watched a meteor shower by the coast...amazing. I also watched a lunar eclipse in my youth - one bright moonlit sky out in the country...and slowly the darkness creeped over it. I love the power of the universe.

Lisa Nanette Allender said...

I know whatcha mean...It is just spectacular. I used to absolutely NOT believe in God--called myself a "cheerful Atheist/Non-Theist", but I find the more I learn/discover about the Universe, the more awed I am-- the more I believe even more deeply in God/Faith, etc...
I think Science, and Faith, are right next to one another!