Harvest Moon

Harvest moonset over the Pacific Ocean. ©Teresa Shumaker. 

I have lived on the coast for over two years now, and every month I say I will wake up early to get a moonset photo, but usually my warm pillow talks me out of it. 

 Today I finally succeeded. 

I woke up at 6 a.m. to hike out to the cliffs behind my house just for this picture. 

One thing I learned is: Don't drink coffee on an empty stomach, when you don't normally drink coffee at all. Someone looking out toward the ocean probably confused my "potty dance" as some odd dance to the moon. Which, come to think of it, is a better reasoning to be dancing. 

(On a side note, I wonder what my neighbors must think of me — just a few months back, I was doing a celebratory dance like a wild man while running up and down the headlands after I spotted my first pod of wild orcas. I can hear them now, referring to me as that odd lady who dances on the cliffs for no apparent reason.)

Oh well, I either learned my coffee lesson or will promptly forget it next time I wake up early and crave coffee. Such is life when I have little space to remember those sorts of things. Must keep all the memory space for important things, like animal and nature trivia.  For example, did you know this full moon is called the Harvest Moon because it falls closest to the autumnal equinox? 

This equinox is extra special for me as it also happens to be my first wedding anniversary! 

Enjoy the picks!

©Teresa Shumaker. 

©Teresa Shumaker. 

©Teresa Shumaker.