The moon is following me . . .
THE BIG ONE
Moonrise over east Houston
Even accidental students of etymology are almost certain to know the celestial roots of the term lunatic. The moon is routinely credited with influence in human affairs for which it is very likely (though who could really know) blameless. What is certain is that people - neolithic and post modern - keep a very close eye on the moon. It's probably natural that we've developed the impression that she is keeping a close eye on us as well.
Last night on the eve of the Vernal Equinox a friend brought me to a gathering he billed as 'a gathering of Druids celebrating the close approach of the moon'. There is a little hippy hollow neighborhood in near east Houston where the residents and their friends regularly celebrate the full moon with a little get together. There are drums, Rice professors, brownies (which it was stressed by the host were not 'the good ones') and more than a few women a variety of which we used to describe in college as 'Middle Earth Lunch Room Types'.
I didn't get the impression there were any actual Druids in attendance, but there was some occasionally spirited drumming and a casually interesting conversation (which I had some hand in instigating) about the prospects for development in the little Hollow. Our host was apparently in the midst of a long tail real estate play which would end (in some indefinite future) with the brown fields 10,000 feet east of Chase Tower turning into some sort of latter day... Houston Heights.
Springtime in Houston . . . even a Druid liberal democrat's thoughts turn to . . . real estate development.
People have been watching the sky (and fluctuations of real estate price levels) for a long long time. Mostly to good effect I would speculate. Besides leading to the discovery of black holes (and high density building strategies) keeping one eye on the sky and one on the ground below seems like the most natural thing in the world. I'm all for it.
The brownies were very good but didn't appear to be the good ones. I may've overdressed. It would be unfair to say that everyone had on tie-dyes. It would not be unfair to say that style was... represented. There was the requisite attorney-cum-artist in attendance. I always spot those, being and accountant-cum-artist. There was even a fat Mexican eating a prodigious share of the (admittedly plentiful) queso. In short - no question we were in Houston. If you stood still for a moment out on the perimeter of the fire's light and listened to the drumming... you could smell the faint long chain molocules wafting from the Ship Channel.
The moon only gets this close every twenty years or so they say. The 'supermoon' should not be confused with the 'blue moon' - though it very likely is. I guess. Pop Quiz (i) what is a blue moon? (ii) how is Easter fixed? and, (iii) what was the first word spoken from the surface of the moon? Those scoring 100% in 20 seconds or less without reference to Google are officially... Houston Druids.
(answers in comments section below)
The rest of you just have to keep reading about the supermoons and the bluemoons and the harvestmoons and the bloodburningmoons and all the other moons we love and fear and celebrate... on the internet. The true lunatic Druids among us will be in Houston's near east Hippie Hollow every month playing bongos at the sky.
JPEG image of last evening's Super Moon - internet compression
and photoshop color enhancement provided to approximate the real experience.