Mar 12 2009
The Moon Was a Ghostly Galleon
I thought of posting a picture like the one I saw on Tuesday, but I simply couldn’t (though I do suggest you check out David Haworth’s website and check out some awesome photographs of space). I didn’t want to taint the picture I had in my own mind, and I couldn’t find a single photograph that captured what I witnessed that night, just after the sun went down.
I had just left my class about fifteen minutes late (the students and I tend to start talking and let the minutes slip by), but I’m so glad I was late–and that Daylight Savings Time had just ended. It meant that, just as I rose above the rest of the highway system on my way out towards Monroe, I was met with what may be the most breath-taking vision I have ever come across.
Imagine this, if you will: The white ground, still retaining a few inches of glistening snow, now darkening to blue in the twilight. Above that, further in the distance, the thick, dark line of evergreens, black next to the glistening snow. Above that, the white-capped range of mountains leading to Steven’s Pass, already mostly blue, though the sun had just set. And slipping up above those mountains, surrounded by the vivid royal blue sky, a golden moon, ten times bigger than it looked when high in the sky, close enough for me to see each crater. It glowed with sunlight, full and almost orange.
I know I cursed when I saw it, if only in astonishment. I probably almost wrecked my car. I had to remind myself that I needed to keep driving, needed to concentrate, all the way to the line of trees. After that, I caught a few brief glimpses of the moon, but nothing else, and by the time I had reached home, the moon was high, barely yellow, and so much smaller.
Oh, what disappointment I felt that the scene was gone! I know it isn’t likely I will see such a thing tonight, after my class, but I might just keep the students talking, or stop and go the restroom, if only so that I might catch the moon, in just the same way, on my way home.
One thing is for certain. I will never forget that sight, not for the rest of my life. Perhaps I should paint it, if I ever get good enough to do it.
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Thank you for sharing this. It took me out of the hospital and let me remember
Your picture of the moon with the shuttle is great, though, sis. LOVED it!
I’ve pretty much dreamed about the vision ever since it happened, aw2500. But last night there was no moon at all… and I have no idea why. The skies were clear, and though the snow was gone, the same sort of thing could have happened… but it didn’t.
Darn!