So one night last week just after turning off my light to go to sleep I was delighted to discover that I could see the (nearly full) moon from my bed here. Lying in bed looking at the moon is one of my very favourite things to do and it brought me back to the days when I lived on Hilgard in Berkeley and fell asleep and woke up right next to a big window. Each night I watched the planes fly overhead, and some nights I'd get to enjoy seeing the world through the glow of moonlight. One morning that fall I woke up to see this huge glowing slightly pink moon setting in the early morning light. That morning remains one of my favourite memories of the apartment.
Berkeley was an especially good place for moon viewing, particularly among urban environments. Due to the lack of skyscrapers and tall buildings in general, the sky always appeared more visible, and closer, and it just seemed easier to see the moon. The full moon rising huge and yellow behind the Berkeley hills (and the fall full moons were always the brightest and best of the whole year) continue to be highlights of my time there. In Toronto, my views of the moon are more easily obscured by buildings or trees. Although I love the view of the full (or nearly) moon from the windows in my front door. It often does get blocked by trees, so those glimpses of it are always exciting. Happily Montreal, or at least my neighbourhood, also seems to be great for moon watching.
A bit of a cliché to be sure, but I've loved the moon for as long as I can remember. Growing up I adored Kit Pearson's Looking at the Moon. I read that book so many times even today I could probably recite entire passages from it. One of the ideas in that book, which I now know is a common one but seemed really novel to a 12 year old me, is how no matter where people are in the world, they see the same moon. I never get tired of that idea, or think it's cheesy or silly.
Sometimes I think I like the full moon best (just because it's the brightest, most romantic etc) but it always makes me really happy to see a crescent moon in the sky, especially right after a few moonless nights. When C. and I went to Iguazu Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil five years ago, we learned that while usually access to the falls is prohibited at night, when there is a full moon the falls are open. I became determined then, and am still determined now, to one day go back there on a full moon. Seeing the moon (preferably full, or nearly) over any body of water (especially lakes and oceans) is one of my favourite ways of seeing it.
The idea of the moon as a person is also cool. I have a magnet on the fridge of 'La Luna' (see picture below) and she is clearly female and has very pretty bright green eyes. The moon in the other picture below appears male to me, although I guess it could go either way. Mostly that picture just makes me think how great it would be to play on a tire swing attached to the moon. It's fun in images to see the moon as a person but I never think of it as being either male or female when seeing it in the sky. Instead, it's just this mysterious, though familiar, object looking down on us. Something bright and familiar I can see no matter where I go.
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