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2014, April: Silence and a Blood Moon

I stayed up until 2am on April 15 to watch the lunar eclipse. I'd never seen one before, and the sky above our house is just so incredible (there are more stars and fewer clouds in Idaho, in case you didn't know) that I knew I'd get a great view. My original plan was to pop outside every 20-30 minutes during the eclipse to snap a photo, but I ended up enjoying the experience so much that I was outside for close to two hours. It was freezing, but the real dark and absolute silence (except for some goat noises) of the country combined with the spectacle of the eclipse kept me hooked. I was using Christian's fancy schmancy camera since I knew my iPhone wouldn't cut it, and despite lengthy instructions from him on the phone (he's out of town), it still took me until almost-full-eclipse to get all the buttons/dials/switches figured out for the perfect shot. (See all the photos on Flickr).


The moon was red as a result of all the light from sunsets and sunrises around the rim of the Earth. Even more exciting is that this is the first of four consecutive total eclipses (known as a Tetrad) that will occur over the next two years. The next one is October 8 and once again Idaho is in the best viewing zone. I love living here.

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