False Eclipse

Day 156: The not-quite-full Moon underwent a penumbral eclipse night before last, and since seeing the Moon in any phase at this time of year is a relative rarity in the Pacific Northwest, I decided to do a photo shoot. Now I know you're itching to correct me, but yes, I know that eclipses only occur when the Moon is full. However, as in "penultimate," the prefix "pen-" denotes something one step away from completeness, i.e., one short of "ultimate," or "not total/totality." Indeed, the Moon was being eclipsed by cloud (a perfectly legitimate use of the word), but not completely. There was enough moonlight to illuminate puffs of cloud surrounding the lunar disk even as the thicker stuff moved across our celestial night-light's face. This, of course, compels a burning question: do werewolves suffer mood-swings when the full Moon passes in and out of cloud, or do they hover in a mid-state, neither man nor beast? It does not seem an unreasonable thing to ponder, given all else going on in the growing darkness of our world.