A Fall Morn
Haiku Homage to Blood Moon
Deer adorned side yard
Rustling leaves, cry of the fox
Blood moon behind clouds
I have a knack for waking up before an alarm clock, which I rarely set, as I find the alarm very aversive (yeah, I know, that’s the intent). This morning, however, I set the alarm because I wanted to see the Blood Moon. Unfortunately, I was disappointed as there was complete cloud cover in our latitude. Sigh.
Our dog Candy Girl decided to rise when I did, which is unusual as she’s getting older — almost 12. So, she followed me down the steps and out the back door.
She stopped with an orienting response, looking up to the north at our neighbor’s side yard, which sits about 30 feet above us on another street. I heard leaves rustling, too, as something was moving behind the 8’ fence that sits atop a 10’ high wall on our property line. A faint cry — maybe a fox, but of course, I cannot see through a solid, cedar fence.
I looked up, thinking she spotted a squirrel, typical wildlife in our yard and the yards of our neighbors in this area dubbed “Pine Valley.” No, it was a deer who stopped and peered down at us. I grabbed my phone out of my robe pocket, put it on 5x magnification, and snapped a couple of photos. Didn’t realize until I was back in the house that it was a…
