Well, the moon did show up, and if I'd stayed at the Viewpoint, I think I might have been able to get a shot of the moon and trees together, but I was busy working on two Klatch paintings, and once I'd noticed the moon, it was too high in the sky for that sort of shot. So I just took photos of the moon and the clouds. Now I haven't mentioned--or if I have, it was just once--that my camera has been having a problem focusing. So I'm sorry--the moon is out of focus. And somehow, this problem is linked to a problem with exposure lengths. My photo of the moon shows no detail on the surface of the moon, but at least I have an approximate record of how the sky looked last night.

Full Moon, Feb. 28, 2010

Copyright © 2010 Paul D. Natkin, All Rights Reserved

According to page C10 Local of The Seattle Times, moonrise tonight was at 6:31 p.m. But thanks to the weather, all that's to be seen for the moment (it's about 7:30 now) is a faint streak of light--and I mean faint--a little above the eastern Horizon. I imagine the folks in Touchet are enjoying a beautiful big moon, but we'll have to wait. It was tempting to stay put at the Viewpoint and wait till the moon had risen up to a band of sky that appeared to be relatively clear. But I've waited before and been disappointed. It's sort of the same concept as the watched pot. It's like waiting for Godot. I know how it goes. Come 11:00 p.m., it'll look like there should never have been a problem. By that time, it'll be too late to get a shot of the moon together with the Viewpoint. Maybe things will work out better next month. In the meantime I have some paintings to finish.