Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Turn Around, Bright Eyes

And I need you now tonight
And I need you more than ever
And if you only hold me tight
We’ll be holding on forever

~*~

Okay, okay, so it wasn’t a total eclipse of the heart. (Those that don’t get the reference, go here.)

Eclipse 4

It was a total eclipse of the moon. Last night, around 2:30 PDT, I looked out my window and saw that the previously incandescent moon was half eaten. (Yes, I got up at 2:30 in the morning on a work night so that I could see the moon vanish into the Earth’s shadow. So I’m an astronomy geek at heart. So sue me.)

Anyway, it’s not often that you are in a good spot to see a total eclipse. So, I wanted to see this one. And it was worth it. My whole family got up (or stayed up) and went outside to watch. Earlier that evening, you could have read a book by the light of the moon; after the moon was fully eclipsed, we practically needed a flashlight to find our way in off the porch.

Eclipse 5

I just wish we had a telescope set up. It was really cool to see as it was, but that would have been neater. Though, it was also fun watching the eclipse reflected in the pool. The slight ripples along the surface of the water mixed with the slowly creeping shadow… very nice.

The biggest problem was our back porch cat was so very friendly, and we were so very preoccupied, that he started nipping at my toes to get attention.

Speaking of cats… My Suzy has been taking lessons from Mayhem. She has determined that Addis (circular sock needles, for the uninitiated) taste very good.

Suzy with Addis
‘Mmmm… yummy.’