Moon and bloom

The image below is a photo-montage - two photographs taken two seconds apart, framed identically. One has the blossoms in focus and a blurred moon, the other has the moon in focus and the blossoms a blur. The sharp image of the moon was superimposed over the fuzzy one, and there it is. Compositionally this is identical to what I saw and experienced this evening.

 

It's only later when I sat down by the computer looking at the resulting image that I realised just how rare this occasion was, and how easily I could have missed it. The two photos were taken about ten minutes after sunset, but an hour after moonrise. The moon had risen far enough above the horizon to be visible between the branches of the tree, but there was still enough light to capture the blossom. A day later, moonrise would have been an hour and half later, so there'd not be enough light for the foreground, and the moon would already be waning (ever so slightly).

So maybe next month? Full moon in May falls on the 26th. Way too late for any remaining blossom. 

So maybe next year? Full moon in Warsaw, April 2022, falls on the 16th. Too early for blossoms if it's cold like this year, but looking back over my blog, I can see that there have indeed been two years where trees have been in blossom as early as the 16th. More usually, however, it's a week later.

So maybe 2023? Even worse. Full moon is on 6 April 2023. No chance for blossom this early. There may be some still around on 5 May, but only in the event of a cold, late, spring.

So maybe 2024? Much better. Full moon is on 24 April. Assuming no late frost or any other malignant phenomena such as volcanic eruptions, and nothing adverse happening to the observer (me) in the meantime, I'm hoping that in three years' time I can catch a view such as this.

Magic(k)al moments are rarer than you think. Proof that one should be prepared, be aware.

This time three years ago:

The working week in town, in pics

This time five years ago:
Brexit: head vs heart, migration vs economy

This time six years ago:
Golf course update

This time nine years ago:
The Shard changes London's skyline

This time ten years ago:
In praise of Warsaw's trams

This time 11 years ago:
Plans for the railway line to Radom

[11 years on, it's STILL not complete]