Wednesday, September 15, 2011— (On September 20, the full moon, “Harvest”, will rise nearest to earth.)
This month is slipping away. In a few days the full Harvest Moon will appear at its strongest, most beautiful. This moon is one that many love best.
It’s my favorite, maybe because I grew up in middle America and knew well all four seasons. It introduces my favorite months, September and October, season-changers, and when natural daylight and evening darkness appear and disappear in environmental changes indicating winter’s onset.
Here in Oregon we have seasons, but with murkier comings and goings. Annually, we might see indications for spring, but awaken one morning to deeply freezing temperatures. Looking outside we sense bitter cold and see new snow, conditions often continuing through weeks that ought to be introducing spring.
Maybe my childhood memories are wistful, and in contrast central states also experience murky seasonal changes. Childhood memories often confuse, some are better than reality and some worse. Anyway about the seasons, I believe that I knew them, felt each, and sensed delight on seeing a clear lovely moon lighting an evening as farmers finished harvesting.
Sure, my memories are from the old days. Then, a farmer stepped onto an open tractor (lacking a radio and computer), and helped by spouse and kids drove into fields. Manually, the family did much of the laboring. Modern technologies have changed harvesting, this might mean that modern kids are less in tune to Harvest Moons.
I wanted to photograph the current half-moon, that coming Harvest. It’s still very distant but clear. I couldn’t find a vantage point appropriately lit for my camera. The caption photo, borrowed from Getty, looks like the moon I’ve seen from the ground.
Dear Friends: Half moons, or “waxing gibbous”, are triggers–for redirection, adjustment, flexibility. Diana
Diana's Morning Blog 