"Moon bathing" from Nigel Slater's "A Thousand Feasts":
"The moon is full again tonight, a shimmering silver and ice-blue globe, bathing the tips of the trees in ghostly white light. I am in the hills near Kurama, but it is a light I've seen in the Hebrides, Lapland, and on the Cornish coast. ... 'Moons I have known' might be a good title for an autobiography and I would certainly label a few of them unforgettable, though that is possibly because of a state of mind rather than the state of the moon. More intrepid travelers than myself will have memories of their most spectacular waxing and waning moons, full, crescent or sickle, but mine exist mostly in my imagination.
"The appearance of the full moon comes with a cast that includes ghosts and werewolves, vampires and fairies, lunatics and late-night revellers, but also this extraordinary light. An incandescence that picks out the white petals of certain garden flowers ... . There is something nurturing about eating green leaves that have been planted according to the position of the moon. ... Vegetables, and in particular leafy greens, that are planted according to the rhythm of the Earth's movements. The notion of vegetables seasoned with as much magic as salt and pepper appeals to me.
"Unlike the punch-you-in-the-eye sun, the moon holds secrets. The most difficult photograph in my collection is a night seascape. At first glance, there is nothing to witness but jet-black. Lit by an expert, gently rippling waves slowly appear across the lower half of the picture. Then, gradually, a horizon, together with a sliver of the moon on the black water. Badly lit, as it is in my house, you can see almost nothing. I can't help but feel that this was always the photographer's intention, a picture that reveals itself to only a few. Tonight's moon is a good moon. Nothing bad could happen under it's sleepy, benevolent gaze. No elves and goblins are abroad tonight."
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