… by a moon shadow, moon shadow. Well, at least I’m being accompanied by a moon shadow – as well as a host of chirping crickets and a couple of screeching bats. Please allow me to explain.
In an effort to increase my longevity, I’ve started a habit of taking “midnight strolls” – as one of my friends has dubbed my evening walks (but that’s another story). During Friday night’s stroll, I realized that something had been missing from my evening walks lately – the moon! This realization came when I saw my “moon shadow”, the shadow cast by the light of the moon. Because the moon was over my left shoulder, I can’t really say that I was “followed” by a moon shadow. Hence, the “accompanied by” phrase.
While on the next-to-the-last street, I was surprised to see the moon directly in front of me. This confused me for a minute, but then I decided to quit trying to figure the lay-out of the street and just enjoy the moon’s presence. Had it not been for the bright street lights, I could have seen my moon shadow behind me. Oh, well… On the next street, I enjoyed watching the moon play “peek-a-boo” with me. As I was walking, the moon would hide behind the two-story houses on the street, and then peek out at me from above the one-story houses. Silly, Moon!
Speaking of those street lights, I’m sure my neighbourhood has the weirdest street lights of all! They’re like big motion detectors – with one major difference: they turn OFF when they detect motion! There are several such street lights on my route, and I’ve started making a game out of trying to fool ‘em. To date, I haven’t “won” this game very many times. In fact, I don’t think I’ve been successful at sneaking past any of these “motion detector” street lights without ‘em turning off. I’ll keep trying.
Oh! I almost forgot to mention the noisy critters I encountered during this stroll. Towards the end of my walk (next-to-the-last street), I became aware of chirping crickets. What always gets my attention when it comes to crickets (and last night was no exception) is how they can be chirping quite noisily one moment; the next, they get quiet (apparently when you’re right next to them); and then, start up again once you’re a certain distance away from ‘em. I’ve always found this phenomenon to be rather strange, but enjoyable. I can just imagine how still they must be sitting as they wait for me to pass ‘em.
In addition to the crickets, I also heard the screeching of at least one irritated bat (at least I think it was a bat, given the time of my stroll) as it took flight down the street. That critter can really screech, too! However, it isn’t one continuous screech. Instead, it makes me think that the bat is stuttering: Scre– scre– scre– screech!
Since the moon, crickets and bats have been on my mind (as you can tell), I’d love to hear about some of your experiences with these things.
