I got mooned recently, and it was beautiful.

I don’t shoot the moon very often, but there was a supermoon that I felt I had to capture.

From our dune crossover, the moon rose dead east in alignment with our shore and its palisades of condos. As it peeked over the horizon, I looked at it as if I had never seen it before.

Can you imagine our sky without a giant orb circling it?

Then, one night, this night—it appeared? As if it were an eye looking at our Earthly lives?

If we can conceive of that notion, we may gain a better perspective of ourselves—Earth, from 239,000 miles away.

I can roughly make out the moon’s ridges, valleys, and craters through my camera lens. But we’ve seen close-ups through the lenses of Lunar Landers that reveal it all in great detail.

Maybe we can see what Earth looks like in such close-ups through my humble camera lens:

This is where I had set up my camera to capture the moonrise.

I re-visited the spot the next day at dawn. And there, as if waiting for me, this dragonfly crouched.

The rising sun’s rays bounced off its wings.

As I edged closer, it didn’t seem to care about my presence; it seemed focused perhaps on trying to remove the screw beneath it.

But with my iPhone camera mere inches away, it finally turned to look up at me. Did my rising iPhone hold this creature in astonishment as I was in awe by the moon last night?

I was amazed by the glowing orb in the sky last night, and now I was awed by the tiny orbs with which this creature stared.

So much wonder in our world, so much of it far, so much of it near.

I thought, life on Earth—so wonder—ful.

How many others of you have found yourselves so many times, in so many places, in such wonder?

Many of us see moments not of joy but of sadness in life and on TV. Yes, there is so much trouble in the world, but we need not dwell on it. We are still evolving on planet Earth.

So much growth is in our future—personal growth, national growth, global growth. We’ve come a long way since this orb of Earth cooled, but we have a long way to go.

It’s the tiny events that matter in building anything.

Spring met me with this group of men working together, an ordinary work team creating, and being part of, a living mural of white on black.

Soon, lifeguards were diving:

…and toning:

…and building endurance.

Many lives are saved through their training, like this one:

And while ospreys were flying…

…some moments…

…were electrifying:

A good friend…

…met a good friend:

But it was the bonding of families that was proof of—good life on Earth:

Families enjoyed life at the lip of the Atlantic:

A dad taught his five-year-old daughter to surf:

She told him she felt like a celebrity through my photo shoot.

Then she gave me her victory salute:

One day, this little guy, at 2 1/2, was enjoying the surf:

The next day he was—learning to surf:

Mom and Dad worked hard, you can see. But it seemed to me—he’ll do better—at three.

Mom and Dad…

…showed him how…

But I think he’s happy—surfing sand for now:

The moon holds wonder night or day.

Even when an eclipse…

…turns noon gray.

And dogs were in it—all the way.

I had some pretty Marvel-ous days this summer.

It started at my terrace railing, with another dragonfly giving me a high “two.” It reminded me to pay attention to Life’s Little Things.

At summer’s end, I got off my bike near the East Crew of our Long Beach lifeguards.

As Capt. Mike Lundwall prepped his crew; he spotted me and said, ” There’s Lee, our lifeguard photographer; let’s give him a nice hand of thanks.”

I thought the gesture was really cool. It made my day and season. So thank you, Capt. Mike and all of you—Long Beach rescue machines.

One of the funniest moments of the summer was hearing this lady shriek in laughter when she got up and ran after a gull.

I didn’t know what happened, but I shot first and asked questions later.

Grandma’s grandson visited from Rhode Island for a couple of days of Grama camp. This was his first try, and she felt it was a success.

I’ll bet:

The pair were eating apple slices and feeding bits to a gull. Grandma wanted to see what would happen if she tossed the baby’s rubber duck to the gull.

The gull ran off with it—the lady in close pursuit—laughing all the way.

Sure, at some moments on planet Earth, we can see craters of horror and valleys of sorrow.

But most of our planet is a sea of tranquility, with families enjoying a good life on Earth. In countries around our little planet, there is love, laughter, and joy in everyday moments.

It’s these little things, these powerful bondings, that build a better humankind. In whatever country we find ourselves, we know we have a commonality; we are in this together.

The moon rises above us all and we are surrounded by these moments. When we notice them, when we savor them as we would the rising moon,—we see that Earth, too, is rising.

Be well,

Leebythesea