We’ve lived in this house for years but this morning I discovered something new. Some confluence of sun angle, time of day and positioning meant that the lampshade in the kitchen reflected a rainbow-colored series of textured light onto the ceiling. It was both joyful and unexpected, reminding me that there is beauty everywhere.
If I look.
Speaking of reflected light, there’s a full moon tonight.
Tonight’s moon is known by many names, including the Wolf Moon, Cold Moon, and Snow Moon. We may finally have clear skies tonight, too, and I’m looking forward to looking up.
February’s Full Snow Moon reaches peak illumination at 5:09 P.M. EST on Sunday, February 1. Step outside after dusk to see the Full Moon in all of its glory!
Since we’re here, I’ll share a link that led to a flurry of conversation in my family.
On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 Lunar Module with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin aboard touched down on the surface of the Moon 4 days, 6 hours, and 45 minutes after having launched from Cape Canaveral. At 02:56:15 GMT, Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on another celestial body.
My parents were remembering where they were when it happened (at the next-door neighbor’s in Michigan, because they didn’t have a television), and what it felt like to watch the landing. Uplifting.
And looking ahead, NASA’s first crewed mission around the moon in over half a century will be happening soon.
The best times to view the event will depend on your location, but the lunar eclipse will peak at 10:44 p.m. ET, according to NASA. All of North and South America will have a chance to see the partial lunar eclipse and harvest supermoon depending on the weather. Europe and Africa will also have an opportunity to see the eclipse.
As the full Moon closest to the autumnal equinox, this is the Harvest Moon. The first known written use of this name in the English language (per the Oxford English Dictionary) was in 1706. During the fall harvest season farmers sometimes need to work late into the night by moonlight. On average moonrise is about 50 minutes later each night. Around the Harvest Moon this time is shorter, about 25 minutes for the latitude of Washington, DC, and only 10 to 20 minutes farther north in Canada and Europe.
Here is some general info on eclipses and a fun video from NASA.
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And as for that more-or-less moon related bonus item? It’s a tasty one.
Mr Man and I went for a lovely if hot hike down by the river, and decided that the best way to cap it off would be with ice cream. We found ourselves at Chris’s Ice Cream Ottawa.
This fun little shop had a number of interesting and creative flavors, including blood orange, chili chocolate, strawberry crunch, and… hang on, what’s this?
I did not think I would like it. I did not think the flavors would work. In fact, they did more than work, as all three flavors combined into a new, better flavor.
I don’t quite know how to describe this “improbable” combination except as a structural shift. Imagine three individual flavors, normally experienced as if they were sequential, or side by side. When eaten together, however, the flavors stack together to create a singular new experience.
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