Tonight’s moonrise (at 8:06pm my time) is closest to full which happens early tomorrow morning at 3:54am. It will not be a good night to watch moonrise here in central Vermont. The smoke is dangerous. Just a few minutes and your eyes are burning. I might look out a window though, because the moon looks so strange in the smoke. The other night I was hauling water and the gibbous moon came out from behind a cloud. It was high in the sky, yet it was blood red with no shine whatsoever. It appeared to be in eclipse, except it was the wrong shape. It was an arresting sight, emphasizing just how much is wrong with the atmosphere right now.
Tomorrow’s full Blueberry Moon will likely look the same. Eerie and dark. A sign of the times…
I have my bird feeder outside the kitchen window so I can watch the birds while prepping dinner and washing dishes. I can see out, but they can’t see in all that well, especially in the evening with the sun shining on the glass. As much as it is shining in the evening these days…
On Tuesday, I was cleaning up and noticed a chickadee just sitting on top of the feeder. I have never seen an inert chickadee. For those who haven’t met these birds, they never sit still. They are little balls of pure energy, always with something to say and someplace to be. This one was sitting quietly, not eating, not grooming, occasionally opening her beak, but not making any sound. She looked exhausted, confused. At one point she started sliding down the bar that holds the feeder and didn’t bother to open her wings, though after an inch or so she lifted one foot to get a better grip. If birds sigh, she was sighing deeply. I felt so sad watching her.
I fully expected to find her tiny body the next morning, but she was gone. Hopefully, that means she recovered and was not eaten by any number of night predators around here. But I suspect she won’t make it for much longer.
This concentration of smoke is too much for so many creatures who have no place to escape it. I’ve noticed the crows are lethargic and panting even though it has not been too hot this week. I haven’t seen as many insects buzzing around the flowers. Even the squirrels seem disoriented. I went out to shoo one off the bird feeder last night, and the beast didn’t seem to know how to get down. I was close enough to swat him before he finally decided to slide down the pole and amble into the cedars.
Today is National Sneak Zucchini onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day. I still don’t have any zucchini. I don’t know if that’s due to a lack of pollinators or a lack of female flowers. I haven’t paid close attention. I do know there have been many yellow blooms on the plants. But no fruit.
That, too, is a sign of the times…
Our local newspaper has run many front page pictures of smoke-shrouded mountains and a wan red sun pinned in the ocher skies. My town is running regular health advisories on their public messaging system. Everyone’s clothes smell like ash. And yet people are not talking about it. With all the determined resolution typical of ignoring the elephant… There are pictures in the paper, but not one article. People comment on the “humidity”. Now and then someone will blame a runny nose or gravelly eyes on the smoke. But mostly people seem to be resolutely ignoring it, wishing it all away…
It’s not going away…
I can’t get that chickadee out of my mind. This tiny being, normally so vivacious and bright, sitting there with vacant eyes and sagging, lifeless wings. Because of us… There is not a more damning image. We are doing this… Smoke and dying birds and flowers without fruit… Blood-red moons and dim suns giving no light. And we are ignoring it, all of it. Hoping it will just go away…
It is not going away…
©Elizabeth Anker 2025
By My Solitary Hearth 
No, it’s not going to go away unless people come together and do something for the communal good instead of merely looking after themselves!
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