August, 2004 - Nr. 8
I think I have this figured out. The Teddies must be coming from you! No one else knows where my 8 homes away from home are but you. Good thing I do not have to carry the menagerie around with me. What would it look like, a grown man with all those Teddies? Or even with one! Embarrassing!!!!!!!
As usual you thought of everything. I am over the moon…Yes I fell in love! Again! With you!
Ok Mom, speaking of moons, did you notice that we had 2 full moons in July?
While I was surfing the Internet at the cottage an article peaked my interest over the description of the blue moon. I had thought for sure that this is ancient folklore, but it really is not that old. Having two full moons in one month is called a blue moon under the modern definition. In the 1930s the Farmers Almanac had an entry that stated that if one of the seasons had four full moons instead of three, the third full moon was called a "blue moon" and was considered unlucky. Having 13 moons in a year instead of 12 makes one wonder if the unlucky number 13 got its meaning that way too?
That sentiment appears to stem from the 19th century, as is the phrase" once in a blue moon" meaning of course something very special and rare.
Just around that time in 1883 the volcano Krakatoa erupted and its ashes floating around in the atmosphere made the moon appear for the first time blue.
Yet the phrase "blue moon " has been around for as long as 400 years, when it meant something absurd or unbelievable, like in "You may as well say the moon is blue".
As far as the modern definition is concerned: A writer for "Sky and Telescope" misinterpreted the definition from the Farmer’s Almanac in an article in 1946, which popularized the definition in the 1970-1980s as a piece of old folklore.
So there you have it, you are now all hatted up about the moon. Next we shall discuss… Never mind, just joking.
Thanks Mom, for a lovely summer vacation, even though the weather was not exactly summer like. Brrrrrrrr, that bay water was cold, the nights too cool, but the moon was exceptional…
See you again around Thanksgiving!
Your loving son
Martin
