This was the moon as she appeared last night from my backyard. That darkening on the lower right edge is a penumbral eclipse, caused by the edge of the earth's shadow creeping onto the surface of the moon. I was alerted to this event by a phone call from my brother and the weather was unusually co-operative, with crystal-clear skies.
The news media would have you know that January's full-moon is known as a Wolf Moon, being so called by the First Nations peoples of North America. I'd often wondered whether there was any real justification for these names, but never bothered to find out. The nature writer, Jim Crumley, is more tenacious than me and researched the names given by the various peoples in his book The Nature Of Winter. He found that every tribe had a different name for January's full-moon and only one of these had any connection with wolves.
There were certainly no wolves around as I shivered in my back yard last night.
Friday's Music arrives on Saturday this week. John Field was an Irish composer who found fame in Russia. It was he who devised and named the musical form, the Nocturne, which Chopin later developed further. Here is just one of his short, but perfectly formed, compositions.
If you enjoyed that then you'll find the entire album an absolute delight.
Take care.
The video won't play here...that sometimes happens. What will play there won't play here or vice versa...but I will look later for a version for here.
ReplyDeleteThat moon is beautiful. I hate to admit this but my first thought was 'I wish I had gone outside last night.' Then I remembered it has been raining since night before last. At least off and on.
Glad I captured a pic of the moon before the clouds arrived and parked above us 2 days ago...and it's finally raining. I will post my pic when I get a chance...yours certainly looks more focused!
ReplyDeleteNice shot of the moon! I've never tried to photograph it. Now I'm inspired to try.
ReplyDeleteA fabulous photo John!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful shot of that penumbral eclipse. We have had cloudy skies here for a while, so your view is my one look at this beautiful moon. Thank you for that and for this music. Ah Nocturne, it's been a while since I've heard that. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteGreat photo s the moon. We had a great view of it here too, no photos though,
ReplyDeleteThat is a great shot!
ReplyDeleteGreat moon shot!
ReplyDeleteWonderful photo of the moon, it was too cloudy here to see it:)
ReplyDeleteHi John, have just been back to see missed posts. I for one am happy your brother and yourself are now members of the wetlands and look forward to your visits. Pretty cool idea to reverse colour on the swans, although you would never mistake your white swans for their Perth rellies 😉 Sending you many good wishes for an excellent 2020 ✨
ReplyDeleteWow, what a great moon shot, mine seem to be terrible every time I try and I always tell myself, maybe next time will be the one. :) Wonderful piece of music, I'll have to look him up.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day, John.
That's no moon!
ReplyDeleteOh, ok. It is.
😊
You are in the UK...hmmm...what do you think of Harry & Meghan ditching the royal family?
A lovely moon.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great shot of the moon! And you reminded me that it is a Wolf Moon and strangely when I was driving to visit my mom on Friday, the 10th, I saw a coyote or wolf or crossbreed running through a farmer's field. Pretty good timing.
ReplyDeleteWhat a perfect picture of the moon and the music in the video is so calming. On another blog, you shared what you learned about kite flying and how it relates to raising children. I really enjoyed reading that. Thanks for sharing your world and your sky.
ReplyDeleteGood moonshot! I'll try to play the music pieces when I am near wifi. I'm still living in the technology dark ages.
ReplyDeleteNice shot of the moon. I hadn’t known the recent full moon was penumbral eclipse. The name ” Wolf Moon” is new to me but I think it’s a good naming as the full moon in the hush cold radiates mysterious aura. Wolf might feel like howling at it, though I don’t know if wolf howls at the moon. I couldn’t hear the music video, that’s a shame, but could happen. As Penelope wrote the analogy of the art of child-rearing to that of kite-flying was interesting.
ReplyDeleteYoko