Equinox Day

We both slept long and woke late, tired after yesterday's trip to Granada. As ever, Clare swam before lunch, while I did some writing. Then in the afternoon we walked into town, and visited Playa el Salon, to the west of the Balcon de Europa, one which Clare hadn't seen before. The sea was very boisterous, due to the incoming wind, which has been taking the edge off the intense heat of these bright sunny afternoons for the past week. 

In the evening, across the little square in front of our residence, a group of young adults were in midsummer party mood. They sang along loudly in tight harmony to a succession of Spanish pop records for about half an hour while we were eating, perhaps they were rehearsing for something, I don't know, but they made a delightful happy sound while we were having supper. Then at nine, the music and outdoor chatter stopped and we were left with only evening birdsong for company. 

I got the date wrong for that once in a lifetime conjunction of full moon and sun in the sky at Summer Equinox that won't re-occur for 72 years according a news article I read. As the longest day is 21st June, I assumed this phenomenon would occur in the evening of the 21st, when it was the evening of the 20th. So the moment had already past when I walked to the crest of the hill overlooking the sea, to look for a photo of the 'Strawberry Moon', now one day into its waning cycle. At this latitude, 2,000km south of the UK, the timing of sunrise and sunset is also different, so more homework would have been beneficial, and I missed moonrise. By now, with the sun below the Sierra Almijara to the west, the moon wasn't pink, but still an interesting hue, here faithfully captured by my Sony HX300.