A while ago I was admiring some photos of the Moon on instagram and assuming that the person who had taken them was some kind of photographic whizz. They were so clear and detailed. Any attempt I had made at taking photos of the Moon ended up as fuzzy messes, but here were pictures that made it look real. A ball of rock orbiting this planet we call Earth. Then I was visiting my dad (a few weeks ago now when that sort of thing was still allowed) and he leant me a camera with a mighty zoom lens on it. Some clear nights and mornings this week have meant that I’ve been able to try it out, and oh my word, it’s fun! Also, it turns out you don’t have to be a photographic genius to get some half decent results.
I talked about awe walks a few weeks ago, and I had a real moment of that last night when I headed to the park after dinner. The Moon was just rising, it was glowing red above the horizon. It looked real. Did I have my camera with me? I did not. Did I stand and bask in the glory of the moment? Well, for a minute or so, and then I decided to hurry home to get my camera because I needed to capture this moment of beauty. Even as I was doing so, I knew it was a mistake. I knew that in the fifteen minutes it would take me to get home and back, the Moon would be higher in the sky, smaller, and potentially hidden by clouds. It was. I had to work really hard to shift the mindset that I had “ruined” the walk. I hadn’t. Although I do wish that I hadn’t bothered with the camera, that moment when I first glimpsed the Moon and audibly gasped, was still real. Do you ever get that feeling that you’re shooting away from the earth and seeing it from above? There’s probably a word for it in German or Icelandic. The amazement that here we are, all these people, living our lives, on this ball of rock, that spins and spins, part of something bigger than anything we can imagine. I’m sure it can’t just be me that feels like this. I had it on a smaller scale the other day, sitting in a Zoom meeting, how we’re all just doing our jobs in our spare rooms and at the dining table, disconnected in one way but so connected in another. Maybe I’ve been at home too long, but this week I have just been full of wonder at the world. And hope. In the next couple of weeks I’m going to be announcing the Get Outdoors Lanarkshire winter project. I can’t wait to tell you what we’ve got in store for you throughout December, so please do continue to watch this space. In the meantime, we have one more session of Getting Groups Outdoors planned for Wednesday 18th November at 10.00am. Contact me at sarah.burgess@vaslan.org.uk We know that with further restrictions looming and winter rolling in that opportunities to get outdoors are limited, but come and chat with likeminded people and make some preparations for an outdoorsy 2021. And don’t forget to look up when you go outside.
