The final full moon of the summer is a treat: a blue moon

It was a beautiful almost full moon earlier this evening, by when the temperate summer day had already cooled down. 

I didn't want to stop looking at the moon, almost as if I feared that if I did, then the gorgeous summer will end here in the paradise called the Willamette Valley.  Not content enough, I drove so that I could view it against a far more expansive sky than the one that the window at home permitted.

The moon kept rising and, with a feeling of joyful emptiness, I returned home.

All good things come to an end. Eventually.

Slowly and steadily, the days will get shorter.  The mornings are much cooler for longer periods of time than even a fortnight ago, and darkness comes earlier and earlier.

I am amazed at how much I, who grew up in near equatorial conditions, have come to appreciate the changing seasons and feel my life synchronized with it.  When the days are long and warm, I rarely feel like working and, instead, want to enjoy the daylight.  Now, the cooler mornings and evenings somehow seem a lot more conducive to getting real work done.  The reading and the writing is a lot more focused, and my mind is rapidly shifting towards the classes that I am looking forward to.

Prompted by the cooler temperatures, I even used the oven yesterday, after more than a couple of months when the air was so warm that I simply could not even imagine the oven being on.

Soon, the days will get shorter and shorter, and Christmas will prompt us to look forward to days getting longer by the minute.  The bright sunlight will become rare here, as the clouds gather to remind us that Oregon is wet and, therefore, green.  We won't long for cold salads, but for hot soups.  We will bake and cook.  Rarely will I see neighbors out and about as the rain and the clouds settle in for the long haul until late next spring.

The next full moon will be the first autumnal moon. The "harvest moon."  Once a friend had invited us to a backyard gathering where the after-dinner activities included poetry reading and howling at the first full moon of the fall season.  I don't remember if I howled. I wish I had.