A Few Things Including the Moon

Still catching up on a back-log of images...

On Monday evening after work, I came home and jumped right into the painting business. Well, okay, that's not entirely true. Now that I have a phone and an answering machine, there were messages to listen to, as well.

Now, Comcast may have referred to this as a new number...but they didn't mean mint. In this case, I appear to have gotten the telephone number of someone named Josh, who ran up a great bit of credit card debt with Capital One, contacted credit counselors about consolidating that debt and also pre-ordered the new Star Wars video game (which is now available) before abandoning the number for me to inherit.


But somewhere in there was also a message for me from my pal, Bethy, who it turned out has a double mattress and box spring in good shape she wants to pass along to me. So we phone tagged a little about the plans to get that to happen...and then I went off to do some painting.

In this case, I was daubing a bit of gold leaf onto the bedroom walls with a sponge, to get a little sparkle going on. The stuff really reeks, though, so even though the windows were open, I was happy to be finishing that just about the time of sunset, and so I made my way off to First Encounter to see the evening's show.

I had barely arrived when this great bundle of energy and fur nearly bowled me over. Never fear, it was my friend Randy's kid, Alexander.

'Xander and I met last week for the first time, and at that time, I happened to have dog treats in my pockets as I was fresh from a visit to the bank...so he gave me the once over and, while disappointed that I was not similarly prepared to see him this week, was still relatively happy to see me.

It was fun to see them, and I enjoyed having a little doggy time.

Randy and I had a chance to visit a little more than during our brief crossing of paths last week, just before everything changed...and so we had much to chat about...and a beautiful sunset and moonrise to enjoy as Alexander explored the dunes and the shoreline for the stinky things that dogs enjoy.


After they'd departed for the rest of their evening, I stayed a little longer to enjoy the feeling of the warm sand on my bare feet and catch the last lingering bits of light over the bay, before heading home for a late dinner and a little more painting.

Oh, what a beautiful time September is.


Did you know the full moon closest to the Autumn equinox is called the Harvest Moon? I suppose we all do, thanks to the old song.

Two out of three years, the Harvest Moon is a September phenomena, but the other year it occurs in October.

They named it that since it appears to rise at a similar time for a few nights, only 20 minutes later than the night before, instead of the usual 50 minutes, giving farmers a little more time to spend in the fields at the harvest.

Chine On...

This evening, in honor of the memory of Jose Jimenez, I present you two views of the fabled Harvest Moon.

Here, the red moon rises in the east over Boat Creek Marsh. I love this shot, since its the first time I've ever captured those surface markings which always look to me like the face of Jackie Gleason.

And just minutes ago through the trees off the side porch: Doesn't it look like the moon's caught in the branches?

Yep, it's true folks. The yard is flooded with moonlight and I stayed on the porch. The thing is, it just looks too beautiful to mess up with a flashlight beam, or to set off the motion-sensored spotlights out back. And its just too dark to be out there without the light. There's coyotes out there, after all.

And if there's anything I hate, it's knowing that I could be freaking out over the branch-crackings of an industrious late-night chipmunk...or the tread of someone higher on the food chain.