Supermoon!

The solstice and the supermoon? It's been a magical kind of a weekend.

In that spirit, the supermoon should be met with a glass of wine (red, dry, preferably Georgian--the usual) and Mussorgsky's bewitching Night on the Bald Mountain (or an excellent contemporary Japanese rock equivalent). 

The greater Pacific Northwest is a bit of a trickster when it comes to its ever-changing weather conditions. But, at the last moment, the thick cloud cover over "Twin Peaks" parted, and the town's residents were left with the kind of a sunset display of light and color that could challenge fireworks. 

Then, as the sun departed, bits and pieces of the moon emerged and hid behind the rapidly moving clouds. Just as quickly, it seemed to rise higher and higher, as I adjusted my tripod repeatedly, until it left the clouds altogether.

I don't know about the size, but that reported 30% brightness increase, as it appears to our eyes, was certainly noticeable. And, whereas a romantic (!) part of me wished that I opted to meet the moon up on the local mountain--perhaps to the howling of its wolves--ultimately, I am quite content with photographing it from my balcony to the comforting murmur of a warm, wrinkly basset snoring away on the couch.

P.S. The moon-beneath-the-clouds photos were shot at 3200 ISO, hence the grain (but you knew that already).