Eclipse of the Moon

For those who did not see it last night--(I remember all too well awiting celestial events in Columbus only to have it overcast on the day(s).)

Gorgeous, full, goat-cheese moon unsullied by any hint of cloud, inch by inch seeming wiped out of the sky--but not, we find when the Eclipse has progressed half-way or farther, we can still see it, but dimly. Then with the lunar equivalent of the "diamond ring" effect of the solar eclipse we see it darkly shadowed and then turning progressively redder and oranger (as we pass through the umbra and the refraction of light around earth allows illumination only by the red end of the spectrum.)

What a wonderful autumnal sight. Better than that buttery harvest moon--so lovely and so perfect a sign of the season of gradual decline.

Not another one for a couple of years, 2007, I think.

Took Samuel out to see it as he had rested earlier in the day and we engaged in a "moon dance" much to his mother's chagrin "Whatever in the world will the neighbors think?" Well, malhuereusment, no neighbors. No one evinced the slightest interest in this relatively uncommon celestial event. They were probably riveted to the exotic enchantments of whatever reality show is running the gamut. Tant pis such souls really missed out on one of those fine moments that shows God's crafty hand--the hand of a skilled artist directing the beauties of the world.