Sunday, February 9, 2020 -- was the day for the full moon to show up.

Not surprisingly – it was totally overcast in our neighborhood around Jefferson Park – a park located on Cleveland’s west side.

I am used to overcast days. So I decided to wait.

Well, Monday, February 10 was another overcast day.

It was again overcast on Tuesday, February 11.

The thing with clouds in Cleveland is that they can come and go and come back just like that.

So on Tuesday evening – around midnight – as I was getting ready to sign off for the day – you can imagine my surprise. I saw our moon – shining in full glory outside the kitchen window – looking east.

I immediately grabbed my camera – and ran out to take photographs – afraid the clouds may come back any moment.

The February full moon is also known as full Snow Moon – it comes in the middle of winter.

And we had snow lying on the ground on Sunday, February 9 as the following photograph shows but no Snow Moon as the skies were overcast.

A plane passing overhead looked like the moon when photographed as shown below.

The February Full Moon is also known as the Sucker Fish Moon. The Ojibwe (native people living in the northern United States and Canada) named it after the sucker fish which was an important resource for their winter survival.

The two-day late moon was photographed through the prism of leafless winter trees. Street lights , lights from surveillance cameras, and passing clouds added contrast to the sparkling moon.

The photographs were taken with a small hand-held digital camera and appear more eerie than the views from the human eye. I was able to see the full moon clearly – but the camera did not capture that view.

The following five photographs, as well as the first photograph were taken on the evening of February 11 – just after midnight.

 

After I had finished taking the photographs – and I was getting ready to cross Cooley Avenue to access our house ( on the south side of Jefferson Park) – Smokey and Gingy (mother and son) – our two outside cats who live on our property – were there to greet me. Smokey is on the left. They sometimes follow me as I walk around the park. I try to shoo them to go home. But they don’t listen every time. And they have a bad habit to lie down in the middle of the avenue and go silly all over when they see me coming home.

 

The February Full Moon was big – also called a Supermoon -- because it was at its closest distance to Earth. The moon travels around our planet in an elliptical (oval shaped) orbit. Because of the elliptical shape – the moon is sometimes closer to Earth – and sometimes farther away. See last slide in the set – courtesy of Angel R. Lopez-Sanchez -- obtained from the Internet.

The full moon -- a sight to behold -- is a marvel in our mysterious universe.

Formed 4.6 billion years ago – our moon always presents the same face to us – because it spins on its axis at the same rate it orbits planet Earth.

The next full moon – also a supermoon -- will arrive on March 9, 2020.

Enjoy the lunar month.