Once in a Blue Moon
Tonight we will have a "Blue Moon". It is the first in nearly three years. They happen approximately every 2.7 years and our next one is in December of 2009.(another month with 31 days) Full moons happen every 29 1/2 nights so they don't neatly fit into human calendars. I like that about them, being a "moon child" myself (and my wife) So, this month, we get two full moons, not one, but two, count them. They don't happen everywhere in the world i.e. Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. They will not have the full moon until June 1st., tomorrow. The next full moon will be June 30, and we'll be on The Baltic, on a Princess Cruise. I bet it will be so romantic out on the deck. (I just checked with our travel agent and she verified it) Maybe I'll have to "croon in June under the moon" to her.
Just some other facts here before I move on to my "musings". In the Pacific Time Zone, tonight the moon will be full at 6:04 P.M.. It will barely be dark by then. The current meaning of the term "blue moon" is only 61 years old.(I'm older) Starting in 1932, the Maine Farmers' Almanac suggested that when a season had four full moons, instead of the typical three, the third full moon should be called a "blue moon". A 1946 Sky and Telescope magazine article misinterpreted this rule to mean the second full moon in a calendar month. The first use of "blue moon" appeared to be in an English verse in 1528. There it meant "never". Now, it connotes "very rare" or seldom for an uncommon event, but it originally meant "never" and then "absurd" according to the International Planetarium Society. The moon can appear to be blue after volcanoes or forest fires emit clouds of particles of a certain size. (refracting/reflecting just part of the spectrum-longer rays) In 1883, ash from the massive eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia caused a "blue moon" in parts of the world for years.
I remember being in a talent show in high school in the late '50's where one of our most talented singers, I think her name was Sylvia, sang "Blue Moon" the old standard in such a romantic way that the staff/faculty was "not pleased". At the time, we didn't associate the "scientific meaning" with the "song's meaning"...if you catch my meaning. Come on, we were just high school boys with one thought on our minds...
Speaking of thoughts...if you get a chance, go and see the current movie, "Waitress" with Kari Russell. It is a gem. This kind of "old fashioned movie" only happens, "once in a blue moon". It is so quaint and architypal(?) in it's roles and message. She is so cute, the kind of girl, you want to bring home. (not the current popular kind, who "kick butt") Without spoiling the show, she expresses herself through her pie-making ability. ala "Can she make a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?" Boy, can she! This was a popular song for my parents. My dad's name was Bill (William) and boy, could my mom cook. (yes, I know, the song has "other meanings") Anyway, she, Keri, is the only one who can get along with the old, cranky, demanding codger played by Andy Griffith(?) or Griffin. Yes, he's getting old and playing marvelously "against type" He becomes her mentor and saviour. Such a sweet movie...yes, a chic flic, and I'm recommending it.
Of course, "Waitress" reminds me of one I chanced to meet in Claremont many years ago now. Her name, as I recall was June, as in tomorrow, the first day of the famous month. She was true to that song from one of those Rogers and Hammerstein Musicals, I forget which one, that is about the month of June... She too, worked at a Pie Place and I'd stop there once in awhile for a slice. We got to talking and I found out that she was going to college and preparing to be a teacher. Well, as it goes, things just worked out. Our school, Oakmont, was looking for a "teacher's Aide", an open position. I told her to go apply. She did and was hired by Dorothy Bromage. She didn't work with me but helped with kids who were having trouble reading. She was so well liked as an Aide that she was hired by the Principal at Sycamore as a 1st grade teacher. We became "friends" with her and her husband and they moved to a big house on Indian Hill. We renewed our "wedding vows" in their backyard with them. We even went with them and a group to the Renaissance Faire one year. That was the last time we saw them. The movie reminded me of them in a way. I wonder whatever happened to them. I wonder if they wonder whatever happened to us? Maybe we'll do it tonight, under a big "blue moon". Bob!
Just some other facts here before I move on to my "musings". In the Pacific Time Zone, tonight the moon will be full at 6:04 P.M.. It will barely be dark by then. The current meaning of the term "blue moon" is only 61 years old.(I'm older) Starting in 1932, the Maine Farmers' Almanac suggested that when a season had four full moons, instead of the typical three, the third full moon should be called a "blue moon". A 1946 Sky and Telescope magazine article misinterpreted this rule to mean the second full moon in a calendar month. The first use of "blue moon" appeared to be in an English verse in 1528. There it meant "never". Now, it connotes "very rare" or seldom for an uncommon event, but it originally meant "never" and then "absurd" according to the International Planetarium Society. The moon can appear to be blue after volcanoes or forest fires emit clouds of particles of a certain size. (refracting/reflecting just part of the spectrum-longer rays) In 1883, ash from the massive eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia caused a "blue moon" in parts of the world for years.
I remember being in a talent show in high school in the late '50's where one of our most talented singers, I think her name was Sylvia, sang "Blue Moon" the old standard in such a romantic way that the staff/faculty was "not pleased". At the time, we didn't associate the "scientific meaning" with the "song's meaning"...if you catch my meaning. Come on, we were just high school boys with one thought on our minds...
Speaking of thoughts...if you get a chance, go and see the current movie, "Waitress" with Kari Russell. It is a gem. This kind of "old fashioned movie" only happens, "once in a blue moon". It is so quaint and architypal(?) in it's roles and message. She is so cute, the kind of girl, you want to bring home. (not the current popular kind, who "kick butt") Without spoiling the show, she expresses herself through her pie-making ability. ala "Can she make a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?" Boy, can she! This was a popular song for my parents. My dad's name was Bill (William) and boy, could my mom cook. (yes, I know, the song has "other meanings") Anyway, she, Keri, is the only one who can get along with the old, cranky, demanding codger played by Andy Griffith(?) or Griffin. Yes, he's getting old and playing marvelously "against type" He becomes her mentor and saviour. Such a sweet movie...yes, a chic flic, and I'm recommending it.
Of course, "Waitress" reminds me of one I chanced to meet in Claremont many years ago now. Her name, as I recall was June, as in tomorrow, the first day of the famous month. She was true to that song from one of those Rogers and Hammerstein Musicals, I forget which one, that is about the month of June... She too, worked at a Pie Place and I'd stop there once in awhile for a slice. We got to talking and I found out that she was going to college and preparing to be a teacher. Well, as it goes, things just worked out. Our school, Oakmont, was looking for a "teacher's Aide", an open position. I told her to go apply. She did and was hired by Dorothy Bromage. She didn't work with me but helped with kids who were having trouble reading. She was so well liked as an Aide that she was hired by the Principal at Sycamore as a 1st grade teacher. We became "friends" with her and her husband and they moved to a big house on Indian Hill. We renewed our "wedding vows" in their backyard with them. We even went with them and a group to the Renaissance Faire one year. That was the last time we saw them. The movie reminded me of them in a way. I wonder whatever happened to them. I wonder if they wonder whatever happened to us? Maybe we'll do it tonight, under a big "blue moon". Bob!
posted by BOB! Your Life Preserver @ 10:30 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
"Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone, without a love of my own..."
"June is bustin' out all over, All over the meadow and the hill, Buds are bustin' out of bushes and the rompin' river pushes every little rill that goes beyond the mill...all the young Virginia creepers are a-huggin' the bejeepers out of all the morning glories on the fence.. Bob!
Eruptions of Mount St. Helens in 1980 and Mount Pinatubo in 1991 had the same effect. i.e. particles not more than a micron wide scattered red light, while allowing other colors, such as blue to pass. This not only caused "blue moons" "purple sunsets" which looked like a fire on the horizon...fire departments were called.
In 1986, the Genus II edition of "Trivial Pursuit" told a whole generation of trivia buffs that the 2nd full moon in a month was a "blue moon" In 1999, there were two full moons in January and March and none in February. Bob!
: )
Now you've got me curious. Who is R2K? And why did they send me a "smiley face"? Probably some ghost out of my blue-moon past. Bob!
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