The Nerd Moon Shines at 2:30 a.m.

Moon in Earth’s shadow. Is the moon the little kid stepping on our shadow, or are we blocking the Moon’s view of the the Sun?

I had a foot cramp, so I woke up around 1 a.m.

The full moon was shining white through my bedroom window, and I hobbled about a bit, soothing my pulsing left foot where the toes kept curling up as a muscle tightened.

It’s party the price of being an old biker. Odd leg or foot cramps just pop up now and then. And so I went back to bed, but woke up again around 2:20 a.m. And the moon wasn’t shining anymore.

I was unperturbed—I had read about the moon passing through Earth’s shadow, and in fact had left my good Nikon camera and tripod on the dining room table, just in case.

Well, so in case came to pass. The foot pain forgotten, I grabbed an old sweatshirt and headed out into the cold. It was indeed chilly, and it took a few tries before I persuaded the camera to snap even though it said “subject is too dark and it’s in the middle of the night you hopeless nerd go back to bed as every sensible person should do.” Smart camera, but I’m not smart enough and I just kept pressing that shutter release, with the timer on, until the camera finally said “damn, you’re a persistent old nerd aren’t you? Fine. I’ll snap slowly. Happy, you hopeless nerd?”

Blood Moon through oak tree branches, shot in my back yard. In my PJs. When it’s in the 20s. At least I did put a sweatshirt on.

So here are a few more images of the Blood Moon at 2:30 a.m. April 15, 2014.