That it's 2:30 AM and there is a gorgeous moonbeam streaming through my living room window - you could almost read by it - and for some reason it makes me really happy.

I know the feeling

Georgeous moonlit evening we had. We're having a big picnic this coming weekend. The Moon shall light the night for us.

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Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

This thread reminded me of a poem that I found once on the net and wrote down. I just though it was nice.

I want to be a moonbeam on strange waters of the night.
Filtering silver with the fishes, being earth's only light.
Floating freely on the water, shining gently on the land.
I want to be the moon dust that landed in your hand.
I wish I was a moonbeam that shined upon your brow.
Asking only for this moment, asking only for right now.
Moonlight shining through your window, shining on your face,
So I could watch your every movement, see your every grace.
There are many better things in life that I could want or be,
I'd rather be a moonbeam, so I could truly see--
How beautiful moon flowers are, how sweet the moon can glow.
But how night looks from in the moon, that's what I'd like to know.
Every moonbeam dies at dawn,
As golden sunlight streams across my lawn.
Yet, to live one day, I would do.
If it meant, for once, I could touch you.

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Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius (and a lot of courage) to move in the opposite direction....Albert Einstein.

My fridge is in front of my kitchen window. For about one week a month, I can get up between 2-3 am to get a drink, and I notice the moon when I lean my head back for it. I've done night observing sessions for classes about 6 out of the 8 semesters I've been here, so the moon is no stranger, but there's something about seeing it at a different time and place that lends to the awe of it, that makes it more personal and beautiful.

Enough sappiness.

It's Ren Faire month for me, and I have a brand-new pair of binoculars. There was a large, lovely moon over faire the other night, and I got to see it in great detail. A friend borrowed 'em for a minute to look, too. Lovely.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

I'm not sure how impressive it is with binoculars, but you should look at the moon when it's closer to 1st/3rd quarter. The shadows of features along the terminator are spectacular to see, IMO.