blackberry new moon

It is the new moon (no moon) tonight, which made me think maybe this is the night for pictures from the last full moon. There were bears, briars, brambles, berries and bovines. (no actual bear bears, but they came up in conversation more than once. Like, "do you think that could be a bear in a cow suit?" or "do you think a cow this close is as dangerous as a bear from far away?" or "how do you evade a bear anyway?" followed by "I can't believe nobody knows! Get in the car! Get in the car!") There was also one cow that was making a very unusual fog horn/car alarm sound which was really disconcerting, but since he wasn't a bear it wasn't too worrisome.)


Bec, Leslie and I (the usual sauvie island berry crowd) went out to the wildlife portion of the island where a person can pick berries for free. Since we weren't beholden to any stupid farm hours, we went later than usual and stayed until it got dark. It was lovely. There were cows ranging all over the field that is right next to the most convenient blackberry bramble; these cows were not constrained by anything. Cows are huge up close and in person, in case you were wondering. We mostly got along, although there were a couple who were cow-suspicious and gave us the cow-eye (like a stink eye, but with more cud chewing).


After we were done picking berries (it was getting dark, the cows were getting bold), we went across the road to look at the sun setting on the river. So pretty!


as the sun went down, the moon came up. This picture gives only the vaguest notion of color and placement; the actual moon appeared about 5 times bigger and closer. While the sun was still nominally around, the moon was flashing in and out of these hazy low clouds. Everything was purple and gold except the cows, who were black and brown and red and seemed indifferent, although maybe they were just waiting for us to leave before they started jumping over things.

The moon was heavy and low and in those moments it really DID look like it could have been made of very fine cheese or ivory or something else delicious and/or valuable. As we drove back around the island it got higher and whiter, reflecting on fields and herons taking flight, illuminating the river and the houseboats and generally contributing to one of the loveliest moments of my summer.