Monday, March 24, 2014

Moonshine

A Waxing Moon on Promotion
Partying Until the Sun Comes Home
Gazing Back
Like Lancelot in Blue Jeans
Glory of a Full Moon at Dawn
A New Kind of Moonshine Over Sandpoint
When the sky unmasks its armor of cloud cover, moonshine lights up Elmira like big-city lights. March was an exceptional month given the the cooperation of an unguarded night sky.

As if the moon were on a promotional campaign, it followed me around like an Internet ad. Todd, the dogs and me all piled into the car to drive to Sandpoint around sunset. We turned east toward the Bonner Mall and there it hung brightly above the colors clung to the Cabinet Mountains in a reflection of the setting sun. It was a spectacular joust between moonrise and sunset.

The next morning it hung above Elmira Pond as if it had been partying while the sun slept. The white orb glowed in a pink sky that reminded the moon to go home and sleep it off for a while. It just hovered, not willing to go and seemed focused on my garage. But eventually, the moon left.

Clouds hid the next moonrise. Yet sometime during the night, I awoke. Stepping out of the shaded dark of my bedroom I was surprised to find my office area lit up. Blinking my eyes, I staggered to the south window to see the moon peeking through clouds like a brilliant eye. Unsure if I was gazing or was the object of gaze, I settled the moment by snapping a shot of the moon.

Perhaps tucked away in a crater of the moon is a photo of me.

Two mornings later, March 16 the sky dawned like Lancelot in blue jeans. In the periwinkle twilight prior to casts of pinks and orange, the full moon blazed over Elmira Pond in all its lunar glory. I felt like Queen Guenevere, gasping at the beauty of the exposed knight, still shining without his armor. Like paparazzi unable to hold back the camera, I snapped photos.

And then it was gone. Clouds and moonless nights have returned, but something new is on the horizon. My favorite place to eat in Sandpoint, the place we always go to for burgers but end up eating smoked ribs and jambalaya, Sweet Lou's, now serves a new shot...

...moonshine.

If you visit Sweet Lou's, try the cherry moonshine and wink at the bartender like the moon or a shining knight in armor.

9 comments:

  1. Watching a moonbeam slide across my windowpane -- :). Love your 'moonshine' story and the memories it brings back of moonbeams we used to watch dance across the ocean waves on full moon nights at the beach!

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  2. You had the added ambiance of wave-music for the moonbeam dance!

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  3. Such radiant word play. Mesmerizing imagery.

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  4. I do love just sitting and watching our natural moon shine. I have tried many times to photograph it and have a few shots I am pleased with, but most of the time, I don't come close to capturing it's beauty. Now, about that restaurant moonshine...... lol, yeah, I'll have to leave that to you :)

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    1. It's so hard to capture moonshine in all its regal silvery elegance. Like sunsets and sunrises we never grow tired of trying, though. Now as to that shot of moonshine...I'm not one for the hard stuff but I really wanted free shot glass! It's great in cola!

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  5. Very beautiful, I get a real nice view of the moon over our lake, reflecting on the lake. You images are beautiful.

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    1. Ah, the moon over water is so beautiful. A few summers ago I played in the crashing waves of Lake Superior (along Chequamegon Bay) beneath a full moon while my daughter, her husband and a group of dancers improved on the beach. I think that's the last moon-over-lake image I have in my mind.

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