Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Full Moon

Full moon tonight.
So?

Confession: I’m not one for astrology or star alignment studies. If these interest you, I mean no offense, nor do I know much about it. I just don’t get the attraction to explore and classify in this way.


But the phases of the moon are a different matter. The Jewish calendar is a modified lunar calendar, and our holidays revolves around it. The full moon and the new moon tell of what part of the month we’re in. The part of the month tells of the next holiday. Most Jewish holidays fall on a full moon.
Realizing it’s tonight, brought back the last full moon at our home, about a month ago, and the howling and powerful gusty night we had.

We lost power a bit after nine PM. In the pitch dark, it dawned on me that the only ones home, beside myself, were two new kittens and one older cat we had just adopted. DD was babysitting a few houses down, and DH had gone to a local board meeting. The challenge for me was not only to find candles, but to find places to put them where the cats would not knock them down. I managed three such places.

I called DD to see if she was alright with the two three-year-olds in her charge. They were more than fine. The little girls each own an IPad, and they were streaming a children’s movie. The little ones, just like my kittens, were anything but sleepy. Not the darkness, but the powerful gusts kept everyone enervated, for good (the kids) and for bad (me and the older of our cats, who mewed and ran all over the place for hours.)

When the grandparents returned, DH returned also because the meeting was canceled. He went with a flashlight to walk DD back. She promptly went to sleep, while her mother (me) couldn't sleep all night. Not only was the house rattling, but things were slamming against it, two widows popped open from the pressure, and our car alarm (as well as other alarms) kept going off because of things slamming against it.

But it was my husband who reminded me that we didn't need the candles after all. He opened all the curtains, and the light of the full moon came flooding in.

By the time the windstorm was over, there were a few deaths and a lot of debris all over town. Just one house-length up our street a tall pine tree was down, blocking most of the Avenue. As our utilities are underground, this had nothing to do with the outage we had. But driving around it was impossible. I had to walk to the other side of the street to retrieve our garbage containers. 

It’s nothing when compared to the disaster in the Philippines, but it was as strong a wind as I’d want to experience for a long time. I have been in one hurricane in New York, (turned out not to be much) and one in Florida, (they know how to handle those there) but this was the most whoosh-wow wind-storm I recall, even counting these.

Calmer full moon tonight, please.
© Shelagh Duffet

9 comments:

Unknown said...

We had a similar storm here about a month ago too! And since I'm new to your blog and missed this last month, Happy Hanukkah to you and your family!

Johnell said...

Those pictures are fantastic. The full moon is so subtly place in there it tells the story well.

Vijaya said...

I think my comment disappeared ... Mirka, I am in awe and wonder of the beauty and power of nature. Enjoy the moonlight.

Barbara Etlin said...

Nice story. I think it has the makings of a picture book or short story, if you wanted it to.

I love the full moon.

Leandra Wallace said...

Oh, sorry to hear about the deaths. But glad you and yours are okay. I love hearing the wind, but that sounds like a bit too much wind for me!

theartofpuro said...

Nice story! Sorry for the deaths and glad you are ok!

Kelly Hashway said...

There's something magic about full moons. I hope the rest bring good things to you and no more stories like this one.

Marcia said...

Wow, what an experience. Your post does a great job of bringing it to life for me! But my heart lurched at the word "deaths." So tragic.

Years ago, we had a freakish windstorm here. Our family had a paper route then and I was out delivering papers that late afternoon. It was freaky. Stuff kept sailing by -- lawn furniture, a kids' wading pool. As I rounded one corner, I truly thought I was going to be lifted off my feet. Part of town was evacuated because the top was sheared off a water tower and was just flapping loose up there. That image actually made the national news.

Ruth Schiffmann said...

I never knew much about the phases of the moon, but they play a part in my current WIP, so I have been learning lately. So glad you came through the windstorm safely. I always have trouble sleeping through gusty storms, although my imagination is usually a lot worse than the actual damage - thankfully!