The moon is a sunlit object.

Expose accordingly. (From thirtysomething, the episode in which Gary has died and his friends are all gathered at Michael’s house, and Melissa remembers a few moments she had spent with Gary, one morning, taking pictures of him whilst he slept.)

: )

Tonight I went on a moon-seeking field trip.



I headed out about 90 minutes too early, but it was a positively fantabulous night here in my little world: sunny, cool, perfect. And first I headed east toward Akin (Home of the Bulldogs), but I did not drive far, only to (I wanna say) Timothy Lane and then turned around, came back through town, and then I drove west toward Christopher (Home of the Bearcats) but turned north at Rend City Road. Toward the lake. Drove all ’round the lake; saw a deer, missed getting a shot of it when the SUV in front of me when roaring past it; continued up toward Keller Mine Road, saw the sunflower field (now withered) that Kurt told me about earlier this summer; got momentarily disoriented; snapped a couple of just-past-sunset shots. Drove back toward the lake and realized this would be my optimum shooting spot; however, there is no good place to park along the bridge, which is about 4 miles in length and isn’t really like a bridge at all, mostly it’s a highway over the water, if that makes any sense. Took 2 sunset shots from Sailboat Harbor (no sailboats tonight), then drove back the direction I’d come from. Wound my way back around the lake, and still, no moon.

Decided to stop by my house, tinkle, and go to www.almanac.com and find out JUST what time the moon rises around here, anyway! (9:10 p.m., I discovered. Ah, not for another hour, I thought, until I realized: Eastern time!)

I hopped back into my car and sped up the highway, heading for the bridge. Kept glancing over my left shoulder as I saw a very bright light behind me, beyond the trees, and then, as I drove over the first section of water, with Annie Lennox belting out the first song from the Medusa album, which I am now hooked on, along with No. 9, I glanced into my rearview mirror and saw the orange moon behind me and off to the right.

I headed over to North Sandusky, to Shelter 3, just before my favorite picnic area, and as I looked through the trees, I saw the sight I was seeking:

I angled the car with the high beams toward the lake, shifted to park, grabbed my big-ass cool-blue Maglite, my Coach Swiss Army knife (for protection from wild animals, of course) and my camera and hiked down to the water. Took a few shots of the moon itself and then, whilst leaning against a tree for stability, took a few more of the moon and its reflection. (To me, it resembles an exclamation point, inverted and reversed, the opposite of this: ! ... like in Spanish, perhaps, and with a bit-too-big gap between the line and the dot, but still. Works for me!) Then I jogged back up to the car, feeling only a tiny bit jittery when I heard a rustling in the trees off to my right. (Wolves? Bears? Jaguars?) But, hey, I had my big-ass Maglite AND my knife, right? (Still, it was very dark at this picnic area, in spite of the moonlight. Freaky, just a little!)

The moon was shining full force by the time I returned home.