Wolf Moon of 2010

 

#30

01.30.10

Photo

First off, I'd like to humbly acknowledge the 7 emails I received this morning upon awaking indicating disappointment that my  amateur blog wasn't updated per routine after midnight.  That means a lot!  I got home after 7 p.m. last night, which only gave me an hour to get the blog written and posted.  Yes, my bedtime is 8 p.m. these days, with 4 a.m. wake ups.  I just can't seem to shake that glorious Atlantic Standard Time.  Or perhaps I just don't want to shake the Atlantic Standard Time, as if to fool myself in to believing I live thar, rather than har.  (?)

In a sleazy attempt to earn your forgiveness and understanding, my Loyal 7 Followers (L7F's), allow me to illustrate the days events.  

My work day started around 6:30 a.m., and it turned out to be a rather burly schedule including 7 office-based surgeries.  A typical day might have 3.  Nevertheless, at some point in the afternoon I had time to check email on the iPhone.  A great friend who knows of my affinity for the moon and that my original blog entry featured a "Blue Moon", had emailed a link to a National Geographic story about the pending Wolf Moon that night.  I didn't have a chance to read the article at work, but knew I wouldn't be so audacious as to post two photos of the moon within the first 30 days of my blog.  Furthermore, the chances of our weather cooperating for a second straight full moon which might allow me catch a glimpse of it, let alone photograph it, were unlikely at best.  Even still, I appreciated the thought and effort behind the link.

My last client of the day canceled, which is akin to getting two maraschino cherries on top of your Branigan's Turtle Sundae (circa 1980, SLC), when you only expected one.  So I raced over to my son's school to surprise him and share the last moments of his Winter Carnival.  I got there as just as he and T were leaving, and did a double-take when I saw a gaping flesh wound on Q's right cheek.  It looked as if he'd been attacked with one of those Garden Weasel contraptions I've seen on late night tv ads.  All fears were immediately washed away when Q smiled and said "Look, Dad!  I got my face painted with a lightning bolt!".  {Sigh}  Turns out the upper class kids were given the job of painting the lower school children's faces.  

To whomever painted Q's lightning bolt:  Please, please consider a profession outside the realm of the painted arts.  Hmm... on second thought, the B-movie Horror Film industry may have a place for you... so chin up.

We decided to try and regain some southern-latitude-jollies by visiting Mexico In Alaska for dinner, and as usual - we were not disappointed.  The food was excellent; but the real barometer of a Successful Dining Event, namely Number of Drinks Spilled, was kept to the preposterously pleasant value of Zero.  Solid work, Q!

Q wanted to ride shotgun in my carriage rather than T's, so we made the parking-lot-car-seat-switch with the precision of Carl Edwards' #99 Office Depot pit team.  We pulled out of the parking lot listening to Hank Mobley blow Dig Dis off Soul Station with his sweet tenor sax when Q yelled "Moon!"  I was trying to manage the carriage's customary hip-sway as I accelerated (it is RWD on icy roads, mind you...), so I just said "Way to go, spotter."  He again said "Moon!", and the sinuous sashaying of our posterior was approaching a low amplitude (we were almost driving straight), so I glanced at what he was pointing at.  "That's a street light, Pal... but nice try".  He let out a frustrated "Argh.  It isn't electric, because look!  There's no pole."  So I looked again, and Wow.  

Wow.

Wolf Moon, indeed. 


It was looming large, low, and bright over the eastern horizon... like an Alka-Seltzer tablet for the Milky Way.  I had to give Q control of the steering wheel (luckily it's a two-seater, so he was sitting up front and could do it; otherwise I'd have had to try and steer with my knees!) so I could roll down the window, stick my head out and let my tongue flap in the breeze as Q guided us down the New Seward Highway approximating 70 m.p.h.


We got home after 7 p.m., and while T and Q focused on his violin lesson, I got the Celestron NexStar 114 GT all set up and hauled it out to the driveway for a closer look.  The moon was much lower on the horizon than my 1st blog entry "Blue Moon", so I couldn't look at it from the comfort of Candle House Observatory.  Fortunately it was 25 degrees ABOVE zero, which meant I could stay out for up to an hour without gloves if I so desired (and I so, so desired) without risking blistering, demarcation of gangrene, eventual digital amputation and long term disability. 


I immediately locked in the moon and got what I believe to be far superior shots when compared to the Blue Moon shots; probably because I wasn't shooting through glass windows with electric candles in the sills (Duh!  What was I thinking?!)  Taking a photo with the iPhone through the telescope eyepiece was a snap after my practice from less than one month ago.


I then saw what I thought must have to be Mars sitting to the left and above the moon.  I spent a good 40 minutes trying to lock that in with the telescope... but to no avail.  I have no idea why I could not get it in my sights, but it was very, very frustrating.  I pulled out the Canon Xsi to see if I could get a good moon / mars shot; and could not.  The image was blurring because of the long aperture time in the dark (I think I said that right...)  My hands were starting to hurt at this point, but I came inside to get the super-deluxe (free) plastic tripod that came with the Xsi bundle, and which I had mangled into near total destruction at Q's violin performance at his school earlier in the week.  I wanted to see if that would allow me a clear, focused image.  No dice.  The camera would move just by physically pushing the button, and the photo was botched.  Now the hands and head were positively screaming, so I hauled everything back in to the garage.  


Then it occurred to me that I hadn't even tried a shot with the iPhone except with the telescope, so I trucked back out and made a couple feeble attempts that didn't look so hot.  But while I was shooting these last attempts, my neighbor across the street, J.B. was coming home from work and saw me trying to take a photo.  J.B. isn't anything special... just a world class hunter, fisher, river rafter, photographer, cross-country skier, oh - and the President of a bank.  No biggie.  He is Anchorage's Ben Franklin, I think... without the challenged hairline, mini-spectacles, or running tab at City Tavern on 2nd and Walnut in Society Hill, Philadelphia.  So no pressure...


He left his garage door open and I cringed as I heard his footsteps approaching.  How could I explain what I was doing to him?  I have a signed edition of one of his photos of Denali hanging in my home, for cripes sakes!  So there he was, now at my side.  Impeccably dressed in an gray business suit with a perfect windsor knotted tie and a gorgeous black cashmere overcoat.  We said our hellos, and having seen what I was trying to do, he immediately set about pacing the vicinity looking for The Spot to maximize the beauty of my photo.  He found it in short order.

I told him I had shot the moon with the iPhone, and he was ultra-complimentary when I showed it to him.  I then told him I had failed with the Xsi, and without a word he marched back to his home and returned moments later with a tripod that probably cost more than my Xsi, a remote control for my camera so it wouldn't blur, and a Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium device that identifies any celestial body (I mustered the strength and decorum to resist asking if that included Scarlett Johannson).  What a guy!  Thanks J.B. - you remain a personal hero and idol.


When he went back home I spent another 15 minutes dizzily scanning the skies for stars and planets, listening to histories provided by the SkyScout.  So, so cool.  I then realized my hands were no longer hurting... and that's a bad thing.  So I hurriedly tried snapping some shots of the moon and mars with my Hyundai camera on his Bugati tripod using his remote - but I couldn't figure out how to get the flash off, and none of the photos turned out well.  That's when I realized my head wasn't hurting anymore, either... so I decided to call it a night.  All told I probably spent 1.5 hours under the clear subarctic night skies wearing fleece-lined jacket and jeans, and thin leather loafers.  Where my self-anointed brilliance in Trichophyton species knows no bounds, my common sense in layering casual wear is a work in progress.

By the time I got in the house and sat at the computer, I was positively shaking with cold.  So I went to the bedroom, got on pj's and a thick robe, wool socks and slippers, and was still cold.  So I crawled in to bed with flannel sheets and a heavy down comforter "just to warm up", and the next thing I know it is 8 a.m. January 30, and Q is in my ear asking if George Jetson's spaceship really does fold up in to a briefcase that he can carry, and if so, why we haven't bothered to purchase one for ourselves.


Here are some additional shots from last night:

 

The Setup.  

Do you see the spec of Mars up and to the left of the moon?

 

The Professional.

Stud.

The Damage.

Back in the garage, here.  The pain doesn't really come through in the pic, does it?

Music

The Czars are a nice shoegazey / alt-country / dream pop group out of Denver, Colorado area.  I like the mood of this song, Paint the Moon, and feel it nicely fits my Wolf Moon of 2010 photograph.  It's the type of song I could just put on loop and listen to endlessly.  Pretty lyrics, too.  They match my feelings of the icy, blue greys of life in Alaska during the winter.  It is helping me transition back to Alaska Standard Time, finally.  

I won't write any more about the music, since I've just spewed 1500+ words above.  I promise I'm trying to manage the length of my writing... but got carried away today and want to just get this posted instead of edit for stupidity and excess.  I take comfort in the fact that most will miss this entry because of my tardiness in posting it.

Parting Comments

For those not following the link to the National Geographic story above; "Wolf Moon" is what Native American's called the full moon of January.  This year it occurs when the moon is at its perigee, meaning "closest to the Earth".  So last night it appeared 14% larger and 30% brighter than any other full moon will appear in 2010.  And the alaskan skies cooperated.  Hooray!

Finally, I absolutely PROMISE to not post any more photos of the moon (at least until February, 2010, anyway).

Until tomorrow... thank you for looking, listening and reading.  CCE