The Beauty of the Earth

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. ---- Rachel Carson

 

Eclipse 2024

We didn’t travel, and weren’t in the totality, and the clouds obscured most of the show.

None of that mattered.

It was still a lovely day.

Other places and dates on my mind:

Playa de Las Catedrales, August 12, 2026

Morocco, August 2, 2027

Queenstown, July 22, 2028

Eclipse Day

 Happy eclipse day.

Partial Prenumbral

The eclipse was barely visible, but it happened anyway, and the raucous fireworks in the neighborhood helped make certain that I didn't sleep through it.

Happy Solstice Solar Eclipse

Eclipse season: Retrospective

Hey, what does today have to do with the beginning of the eclipse season?
A lot can happen in six months, I tell you.

Super Blue Blood Snow Moon

I hit the steam room this morning to settle and meditate before going out to watch the full moon rise before the eclipse.

The washboard clouds parted just in time to be bathed by the moonlight, so strong that I could see my shadow on the wall behind me.

Happy Super Blue Blood Snow Moon.

May your path be revealed in the darkening of the light.

Into the Totality

Eclipse patterns

Solstice Lunar Eclipse

Barring cloudy weather, astronomy enthusiasts and sky gazers across North America will be treated to the only lunar eclipse of the year tonight. Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be seen for a few moments from any specific spot, a lunar eclipse can be viewed for several hours and is safe to view without special glasses or equipment. If the sky is clear, experts say the show might be extra spectacular, as the moon will have a reddish glow, and just to add to the spectacle, a minor meteor shower is expected to send a few shooting stars through the darkened sky during the height of the eclipse.

According to NASA's notes on the eclipse, the total phase should last about three and a half hours when it begins as a partial eclipse at 1:33 a.m. ET and it will finish at 5:01 a.m. ET. The totality phase -- when the moon is entirely inside Earth's shadow -- will last approximately 72 minutes. This year's only lunar eclipse actually coincides with the winter solstice, meaning that the moon will appear high in the night sky, aiding visibility for revelers. The last time that we had a total lunar eclipse occur on the same calendar date as the winter solstice takes us back nearly four centuries, to Dec. 21, 1638, when the full moon was in total eclipse from 1:12 to 2:47 UT; the solstice occurred later in the day at 16:05 UT.

Astrologers and moon-based religions are paying attention to this once-in-several-lifetimes occurrence, as “a Lunar Eclipse affects us on a deep, emotional level, generally over the upcoming 6 -9 months. Pay attention to themes, people, and events that may enter your life a few weeks prior and during this time.  Remember to look back just about 19 years ago for similar themes.  What were they and how do those past events and themes relate to what's happening in your life now?” I even found a ritual posted for the event. The whole thing is sort of creepy when you think about it from the ancients' perspective: On the same day that the Sun Father symbolically "dies," the Moon Mother that should be at her full power is instead eclipsed and goes dark - in this case, for over an hour as seen in North America. What will you be introspecting?

For our part, the boys and I will be ceremonially lighting the tree, hanging ornaments, and wrapping presents, all with a laden table and baking confections. We spent this weekend in preparation for exactly these events, and we are looking forward to them, complete with getting up in the wee hours to watch the moon disappear. Well. As long as it's not too cold.

It had to happen eventually.

Okay, so I was wrong. Well, more in the wrong time zone, but that’s nothing new for me. Anyway, the eclipse tonight for the eastern shore will start at ten. I’m still looking forward to the living room picnic, of course. And it finally happened; I was asked the question by a coworker yesterday: "Star Wars or Star Trek?” I responded without missing a beat, "Even if you take A New Hope versus Next Gen it’s still a pretty harsh question, but if you’re talking about Little Ms. "I am a senator" (in fetish clothing), well, that’s just a waste of good celluloid. Frankly, Star Trek is philosophy and Star Wars is a spaghetti western, so it’s really a question of what you’re in the mood for." I looked around at my colleagues, who were either silent or shaking with laughter, which I suspected was more at me than with me. I looked at Ray, the systems Librarian (one of those overcome with mirth and said) "No fair. That was a trap, and now I have a big NERD sign on my forehead and now no one will talk to me." It was a lighthearted moment at my own expense, and really wasn’t all that painful – nor wholly unexpected. I like the folks I work with. And they accept that I am a true-trekkie-blue NERD. 

N.B. No, I do not and have not ever owned a pair of Spock ears. This just had to be stated up front.

yes, i read the almanac

Thanks to Nate for sending along the picture of the lunar elcipse from the other side; pretty, isn't it? While David and i were driving home Saturday evening (after a much-needed trip to Sam's Club), I pointed out the emerging crescent. The boys and David and I watched the eclipse finish its path across the moon as we made our way up the mountain. My face pressed against the cool glass of the passenger window, I confessed: "The full moon in March is called the Worm moon. I meant to look it up, but I didn't." David asked me how it was that i knew the eclipse was coming up, and that it was a full moon that night. "Uh, i read it in the Farmer's Almanac?" I felt like a dork, but it's true -- the almanac provides a lot of my random farm-based information, and it's not really more sophisticated than that. I'm a weird-information junkie, and i like knowing stuff about the world in which i live; the two come together to produce a fascination of named things. In the case of the names of the full moon, i found a list online. For the latest on what is going on, i tend to visit more authorative sources. and while i was visiting, i found what i'd like to get Tiger for his birthday in July. my mind has an endless capacity for useless information.

Cool things this weekend:

• On Saturday morning we went out and rode Nitro (the Freesian). Everyone got a turn except David, who was doing the lead-around-the-field thing. We meant to ride longer and share more, but Nitro was slipping in the still-wet grass, so it was a brief outing. Satisfying though. Note: Nitro is one heck of a lot of horse. At 17 hands and over a ton-and-a-half, it seriously changed my approach to riding when i was in the saddle. He got a little frisky, jumping and swishing a bit, and it was noticable in a way it simply isn't in smaller horses. I felt small and insignificant, but in a nice way.
• After riding, we went to town and looked at furniture. We need a new dining table and the boys need height-appropriate dressers. We were more of the get-ideas-and-go-home-and-make-it mindset, and i think we might have figured out a solution to the boys' organization at long last (yes, it involves the woodshop and not a credit card).
• David introduced us to the age-old board game Careers and we had a ball. The game he has is so old that all the little score sheets are used up and have been erased and re-erased into onion skin. I hopped on the computer and made a new set, which we tested on Sunday night while the clothes finished washing and the boys fell asleep. David won, but i was only a hunderd dollars from victory. [A hunnerd!]
• The Sam's trip did my heart good in a way that i simply find difficult to describe. We have twelve pounds of rice and a big honking case of Charmin. We are beginning the Pantry Stock, and such are the things that calm me, especially as i haven't found a contract yet. (Yes, they keep saying there are tons of things out there for me. None of them comes through, though. It's that overeducated, overqualified thing again.)
• We had dinner on Friday night with Michael, which was a treat for us all. As he came in, Tiger looked at him and said "Did i mention that I think of you as a brother?" Michael was telling him yes, and that it was cool when Tiger then informed him that he could now join him in playing The Mime Game.
• Sunday was mostly calm and quiet, with house chores and movies and tree removal (when the axe broke, David got to show off the chainsaw before literally man-handling the tree into submission. My own personal superhero.)

this morning was a comedy of near-errors, but that's another story for another time. Hopefully, the day is on track once again.