February 22nd – Dat moon. I first spotted it when I was coming home late along the ring road in Walsall – large and full, it doesn’t seem like five minutes since it was a new crescent, which I suppose means this year will pass very quickly.
I liked the contrast of the electric, traffic-choked urban night and the ancient light of the moon.
February 10th – I’m quite liking the weather this week since it’s calmed down a bit. Cooler, clearer, some great evening skies. Sunset now well after 5pm, which means I’ll soon be commuting home in the light again.
In the meantime, stood silent sentry, but buzzing with unseen data, the cellphone station in Darlaston was a beautiful contrast to the black country dusk.
It seemed to be trading secrets with that beautiful crescent moon – which, as my grandfather might have said ‘is lying on it’s back and holding rain in its belly’ – so perhaps it’s not a good sign…
January 22nd – My guardian home was the very, very nearly full moon. As I stood in the High Street, I just hopefully pointed the camera, zoomed in an took a shot.
That was lucky. Maybe it’s a sign…
March 3rd – I was quite lucky with this, too; also handheld. The moon was my companion tonight as I rode through Sheffield and Walsall Wood, I noticed how bright it was. I love how if you can photograph it, detail you can’t see with the naked eye becomes evident.
All those miles of nothing between me and the moon. And yet, man has been there, and landed on that glowing ball.
Such a wonderful, enchanting thought.
October 9th – I came back through Walsall and had to make a call in Chuckery. Just as I came over the brow of the hill on the Sutton Road, I caught sight of the moon.
We don’t seem to get normal, plain old moons any more. Every one lately has to be a ‘supermoon’, a ‘blood moon’ or some other silliness. Still, as long as folk look up and see our sole astronomical satellite, I guess it’s all good.
A handheld, spur of the moment shot with a small, consumer camera. Inbetween me, and that big old moon? Just static, and silence. Sobering, and impressive to think about.
October 3rd – From Bridgtown, back along the A5 to Stonnall, and up Barracks Lane over Springhill. Autumn really settling in now, the fields here are barren, there was quite a nip in the air, and the moon hung is a beautiful sky.
I felt dog-rough, but it was worth being out, just for this…
June 21st – The north end of Chasewater Dam is currently carpeted in a beautiful display of moon daisies, which not only look delightful, but smell beautiful, too. I love the fact that the rangers stopped mowing the bank and left them to bloom.
In a day riven with toothache, chaos and general bad luck, these cheered me no end.
September 2nd – I just knew all day it was going to be a good sunset. I had no idea why; sometimes you can just tell. At teatime, that cold, damp chill descended, of the kind you only get in autumn and spring, and the sky started to turn pink. I knew it was game on. I took my time and headed to Chasewater, which has to be the best place to catch a sunset in these parts. I was surprised and delighted by what I found: not just a great sunset, but a yellow moon rising the east, geese honked and chattered in the dusk as they came in to roost. Bats skittered about my head, and moths became iridescent in my bike lights. Behind this was the most delightful susurration – the continual lapping of water in the darkness. I realised how long it was since I’d heard that at Chasewater. A fine thing. It’s been grim times, old girl, but it’s nice to feel your recovery at last.
June 22nd – Moon daises are doing well this year. A relative of the more common lawn variety, and also of the ragwort from earlier in the week. The buds, if picked when young, are peppery and hot. This patch are on the canal towpath at Catshill Junction, Brownhills. I tried to get a picture from the banks of the M54 in Telfoed this week, but couldn’t get a good angle; they are carpeted with these delightful flowers.
December 10th – The moon was remarkable. Heading along the canal by the Watermead Estate, I noticed it behind me; orange and masked by banded cloud. I missed the eclipse, but there was something about that big, orange lunar glow that I found reassuring. It doesn’t seem long since that moon was new, and time is passing. Soon, it will be the shortest day, and life will begin to open out again; the moon will continue its inexorable transitions, and soon there will be lightness and spring again. A lunar chronicle. Winter draws on…
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