Rippled Moon

There was a lunar eclipse last night, but I missed it. This wasn't the right part of the world for the best view, but we should have been able to see something. But when I went out after moonrise (which would have been after totality anyway), I couldn't see anything because of the buildings across the street. Alas.

At least this morning, I have a lovely view of the bright full moon as it sinks toward the western horizon, like a platinum disc with silver spots and a gold rim around the lower edge. I live in an older building, so the glass panes of the windows are warped and sagging. Thus, every time I move my head, my view of the moon changes dramatically, rather like a series of funhouse mirrors, or a reflection in wind-stroked water. It seems like fingers of the half-light blue sky are bending the edges of the moon, like the fingertips of a hand clutching it from behind. At certain angles, the deformity of the glass is great enough that unbroken blue bars appear to cross the moon.

I’d always thought of these old, rippled windows as an irritation, but if I take them as part of the view rather than an obstruction to it, it’s a rather neat sight.