Believe it or not, I was hoping for thick cloud cover tonight in order to avoid the pull of the chimeric evening landscape. After all, I've got a number of projects to finish and a weekend event for which to prepare.

Then I made a mistake.

Stepped out on the balcony to get some fresh air, that is.

And so it began:

I did get cloud cover, but only in part.

Of course, this made the Moon look particularly arcane and elusive against the rapidly changing colors of the Sun's departure. An alabaster veiled lady posing for a three-quarter-view portrait in oil, akin to something by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, perhaps, rounded, voluptuous even, but with facial features you couldn't quite grasp--in contrast to the latter's clarity.

Then the Moon dissolved into the clouds, getting brighter, yet losing shape completely, melting, and melting some more. And only upon its own descent could you begin to recognize its features at last.