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Dark Side of the Moon
Sep. 28th, 2015 11:40 pmLast night Kimberly and I travelled up to Lake Temescal to see the SUPER BLOOD MOON.
It was actually (and amusingly) my second bike ride up to Lake Temescal for the day. I dropped Kimberly off at a get together in Rockridge around 4pm, biked up to Lake Temescal, edited 3,500 words (and read one issue of Swamp Thing), biked back down, picked her up, and then up we went again.
It was Kimberly's first ride up into the hills like that, and she did great. Mind you, I know the terrain between Rockridge and Lake Temescal very well, so I carefully directed when she should get off her bike and walk, and when it was OK to ride again (to avoid biking the really steep stuff). I remember well getting up to Lake Temescal for the first time, 'lo these many years ago, and feeling like I was about to pass out, and I didn't want to repeat that experience for her.
So, we made it in 25 minutes or so with a bit of walking.
At Temescal we found a bench on the North side of the Lake and sat down to read Mad Ship for a while. It's the 7th book in our mega-Robin-Hobb read aloud that we're now over a year into. We finished up a short chapter around 7pm and then started to look for the moon.
And we looked.
And we looked.
We talked with other people, also looking for the moon.
They stumbled away in despair.
And we looked.
We wandered back and forth around the nearby grass.
We wandered up onto the high path running along the west side of the Lake, and got to an overlook which allowed us to look eastward across the lake and hills.
And we looked.
We wandered back down.
The minutes kept ticking by. Soon it was 7.40, almost an hour after moonrise.
No moon.
Eventually we decided that some combination of the very slight haze in the sky and the fact that the moon had risen already mostly eclipsed were keeping us from spotting it in the sky.
So, we decided that we'd had our adventure, and biked back down to civilization.
Ironically, the bike ride back down was at least as trying for Kimberly as the bike ride up. That's because it's almost pitch black on the roads near Lake Temescal. I'd mentioned this, but hadn't made a big deal about it, and Kimberly had probably never ridden in conditions that dark. So, she got a bit concerned about the safety of the ride, but managed it, and all was well when we emerged back in Rockridge.
Afterward, Kimberly took us out to dinner at Cactus. Now, with less screaming children and better quality food again.
Then we went to Trader Joe's to pick up "necessities" like Pita Chips and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups.
As we crossed the Trader Joe's parking lot, we were puzzled by a security guard holding his phone up toward the eastern sky, like an offering to the star gods.
I was bemused, but assumed he was just crazy. Because, Berkeley. Kimberly said, "Look!"
There, in the sky was a quarter or so of a moon, the other three quarters dull-red in the eclipse.
We'd found it at last.
It was actually (and amusingly) my second bike ride up to Lake Temescal for the day. I dropped Kimberly off at a get together in Rockridge around 4pm, biked up to Lake Temescal, edited 3,500 words (and read one issue of Swamp Thing), biked back down, picked her up, and then up we went again.
It was Kimberly's first ride up into the hills like that, and she did great. Mind you, I know the terrain between Rockridge and Lake Temescal very well, so I carefully directed when she should get off her bike and walk, and when it was OK to ride again (to avoid biking the really steep stuff). I remember well getting up to Lake Temescal for the first time, 'lo these many years ago, and feeling like I was about to pass out, and I didn't want to repeat that experience for her.
So, we made it in 25 minutes or so with a bit of walking.
At Temescal we found a bench on the North side of the Lake and sat down to read Mad Ship for a while. It's the 7th book in our mega-Robin-Hobb read aloud that we're now over a year into. We finished up a short chapter around 7pm and then started to look for the moon.
And we looked.
And we looked.
We talked with other people, also looking for the moon.
They stumbled away in despair.
And we looked.
We wandered back and forth around the nearby grass.
We wandered up onto the high path running along the west side of the Lake, and got to an overlook which allowed us to look eastward across the lake and hills.
And we looked.
We wandered back down.
The minutes kept ticking by. Soon it was 7.40, almost an hour after moonrise.
No moon.
Eventually we decided that some combination of the very slight haze in the sky and the fact that the moon had risen already mostly eclipsed were keeping us from spotting it in the sky.
So, we decided that we'd had our adventure, and biked back down to civilization.
Ironically, the bike ride back down was at least as trying for Kimberly as the bike ride up. That's because it's almost pitch black on the roads near Lake Temescal. I'd mentioned this, but hadn't made a big deal about it, and Kimberly had probably never ridden in conditions that dark. So, she got a bit concerned about the safety of the ride, but managed it, and all was well when we emerged back in Rockridge.
Afterward, Kimberly took us out to dinner at Cactus. Now, with less screaming children and better quality food again.
Then we went to Trader Joe's to pick up "necessities" like Pita Chips and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups.
As we crossed the Trader Joe's parking lot, we were puzzled by a security guard holding his phone up toward the eastern sky, like an offering to the star gods.
I was bemused, but assumed he was just crazy. Because, Berkeley. Kimberly said, "Look!"
There, in the sky was a quarter or so of a moon, the other three quarters dull-red in the eclipse.
We'd found it at last.