Arkansas: Lake Catherine State Park, Part 4: The Ethereal

Early evening, Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. October 2017.

October 2017
On the way to Missouri

Lake Catherine State Park


On Tuesday afternoon, I took a short walk. Dewy webs and fungi were on the stage.

Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. October 2017.

Look at those tiny leafen universes in the drops above!

Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. October 2017.

For those who collect wild hearts:

Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. October 2017.

I'd like to have broken off the bread-like slab below and eaten it, but .... maybe it would kill me?

Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. October 2017.

Besides, I didn't have any salt with me. ..... Hahahaha! That's a joke. Of course I had salt with me!

Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. October 2017.

Mmmm, brown sugar with a sprinkling of roly-poly:

Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. October 2017.

Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. October 2017.

I am curious about the cutting striations and also the waxy-pimply rounds on the base of this plank:

Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. October 2017.

I think of constellations and galaxies below, the whorls and swirls and stretching nebulae:

Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. October 2017.

And an ear cocked against the body of a tree:  

Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. October 2017.

At night came the full moon. A video:

And some stills:

Full moon, Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. October 2017.

Full moon, Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. October 2017.

Full moon, Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. October 2017.

Full moon, Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. October 2017.

Good night.

El Paso: Another Gosh Darn Beautiful Full Moon

Full moon over El Paso and Juarez from Upper Tom Lea Park, El Paso, Texas. March 2017.

Full moon over El Paso and Juarez from Upper Tom Lea Park, El Paso, Texas. March 2017.

Full moon over El Paso and Juarez from Upper Tom Lea Park, El Paso, Texas. March 2017.

There's obviously something going on between El Paso, Juarez, and the moon. Love, maybe.

El Paso: Walking With the Moon

Full moon eve, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Sister cities, El Paso and Juarez, are favorite children of the moon, I think.

Full moon eve, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

The moon likes to rise up, I think, and just look quietly upon the millions who've made their homes in the middle of a desert, ringed by folded mountains.

Full moon eve, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

One October evening, the eve of a full moon, I walked downtown from my apartment in Sunset Heights.

Full moon eve, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Often, I choose to walk downtown via Prospect. But on this evening, I chose Yandell.

Full moon eve, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Did I talk to the moon as I made my way down? Probably not. But I was pleased she was there.

I stopped on an overpass to watch the traffic on Interstate 10.

Full moon eve, Interstate 10, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

The many-lighted bridge across the way is Prospect Street, my usual route downtown.

Full moon eve, Interstate 10, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

El Paso: Moonrise

September 2016

Moonrise in El Paso and Juarez, watched from Upper Tom Lea Park.


At 7:30 p.m.

El Paso-Juarez moonrise from Upper Tom Lea Park. September 2016.

El Paso-Juarez moonrise from Upper Tom Lea Park. September 2016.

El Paso-Juarez moonrise from Upper Tom Lea Park. September 2016.

At 7:31 p.m. 

El Paso-Juarez moonrise from Upper Tom Lea Park. September 2016.

El Paso-Juarez moonrise from Upper Tom Lea Park. September 2016.

At 7:32 p.m.

El Paso-Juarez moonrise from Upper Tom Lea Park. September 2016.

El Paso-Juarez moonrise from Upper Tom Lea Park. September 2016.

At 7:33 p.m. 

El Paso-Juarez moonrise from Upper Tom Lea Park. September 2016.

El Paso-Juarez moonrise from Upper Tom Lea Park. September 2016.

At 7:48 p.m.

El Paso-Juarez moonrise from Upper Tom Lea Park. September 2016.

The fireworks in Juarez after:

Fireworks in Juarez after the El Paso-Juarez moonrise from Upper Tom Lea Park. September 2016.

Fireworks in Juarez after the El Paso-Juarez moonrise from Upper Tom Lea Park. September 2016.

Oh. My. 

Rootless Moon Stories

Lingering moon, Alamogordo Balloon Fest, New Mexico. September 2013.

There is a blue moon tonight, which makes me think of other moons.

Full moon, Kutaisi, Caucasus Georgia. June 2012.

Harar, Ethiopia

My favorite moon experience might have been in Harar, Ethiopia. The moon was so bright, I took a shower by the light beaming through the window:

.... I wish I could stay longer in Harar. Sean McLachlan, the online travel writer, told me of the pleasure of walking in the walled city (Jugal) by moonlight. In the narrow, curving, cobblestoned streets, a hyena might brush against your thigh as it made its silent night-time rounds.

Sean was also in the practice of spending an entire day hanging out with a tailor in his streetside shop. I saw Sean doing exactly that one day. Borrowing Sean's idea, I would spend an entire afternoon and evening with a woman vendor, pulling up my own stool to sit under her umbrella. Maybe I'd even shout out "faranjo!" when I saw one pass. Or maybe I'd shout out "habesha!" to all Ethiopians who walked by.

But not enough time for either of these things.

As it was, I showered with my bathroom light turned off so I could look up at Harar's full moon through the high window.

Full moon, Oliver Lee State Park, New Mexico. September 2012.

On a train from Batumi, (Caucasus) Georgia

From The Black Sea, Part 5: The Train to Tbilisi:

... Sandy and I had splurged on a two-bed train cabin. We'd bought late-night dinner fixin's.
We each put our pillows at the end of our beds by the door, stretched out, and we could see the big ol' full moon roll with us on the train.

Moonrise, Alamogordo, New Mexico. October 2012.

White Sands National Monument, outside Alamogordo, New Mexico: 

Full moons get center stage at White Sands, as they should.

White Sands National Monument, NM: Into the Night

Summer Solstice 2013 at White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

Full moon over Alamogordo, from White Sands National Monument, New Mexico. November 2012.

Moonrise over the Sacramento Mountains

At Oliver Lee Memorial State Park in New Mexico, I was a lucky witness to some spectacular moons.

Oliver Lee Memorial State Park: Always Something Going On

New Mexico: "Dark Skies"

Summer solstice moon, White Sands National Monument, New Mexico. June 2013.