"Once In a Blue Moon"

I just found out that today is a blue moon day. According to an article in Sky and Telescope magazine, What's a Blue Moon?, by by Roger W. Sinnott, Donald W. Olson, and Richard Tresch Fienberg, the popular definition of a blue moon as a full moon that occurs twice in one month is inaccurate, as it originally refers to a third full moon in a season of four. However, as the article points out, the term "blue moon" as used to refer to two full moons in a month has been in use for over two decades. Far from causing any harm, it actually encourages interest in astronomy.

The year 2009 has been a hard one for a lot of people, my family included. Sometimes I've forgotten the blessings when the difficulties pressed down upon my spirits. It's been helpful to do the "Seven Kicks" Sunday check-in at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast as an exercise in gratitude. In brief, here are seven astronomy-based items for which I am glad:

1. A newly discovered exoplanet is made mostly of boiling water. As a friend said, "Now, we need to figure out how to send the Earth's biggest teabag to that planet."

2. At this time, I can see all of Carl Sagan's Cosmos online.

3. There are only 4 1/2 years to go before New Horizons reaches Pluto.

4. I'm glad for every time Jupiter's gravitational pull deflects an asteroid or comet from heading toward Earth a la Deep Impact.

5. I appreciate seeing the Orion constellation in the sky of the northern hemisphere during the winter season. (One of the reasons I want to visit the southern hemisphere someday is to be able to see a completely different array of constellations.)

6. The Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity are still functioning, though it appears that Spirit is still stuck.

7. This year, I got to see Jupiter through a telescope for the first time. The telescope wasn't very strong, but I did see the bands!

Songs of Winter

Next week's blogging will be rather quiet as the House of Glee prepares for the final days of Advent leading up to Christmas. I'll spend the majority of my blogging time checking in on your blogs and saying hello.

Last week, I managed to record the song "We Are Three Wandering Travelers" for A Storytelling of Crows before I came down with my cold. Sharp ears will hear the beginnings of the cold in my throat, but the recording is sufficent to convey the tune.

My daughter came home from school with a song that's a variation of a poem that Rudolph Steiner wrote. Steiner's version is about the four lights of Advent, but in Lucia's school, the four lights of winter convey the same message in an ecumenical way. I'll post a link to the tune when I've learned it properly, but here now are the words as Lucia taught me:

The first light of winter is the light that shines in stones,
The light that shines in crystals and seashells and bones.

The second light of winter is the light of plants
Plants that grow up to the sun and in the breezes dance.

The third light of winter is the light of beasts
The light of life that shines in the greatest and the least.

The fourth light of winter is the light of humankind
The light of love, the light of thought, to give and understand.

(Lucia didn't remember the last line, so the one you read here is what I've culled from online research.)

Nature Tables and Playscapes

On Flickr, one can "curate" galleries of up to 18 photos. Since my daughter's class auction project is going to be a nature table display with four different playscapes (sewn, needle-felted, wet-felted, or knitted pieces that are essentially three dimensional quilts), I put together a gallery to show the other parents what the possibilities are. Inspiration, not imitation, is key. You might enjoy taking a look at the gallery as well:

Nature Tables and Playscapes

If you look closely, you will see one of my little dolls in someone else's winter nature table display.

I recently picked up a copy of The Knitted Farmyard by Hannelore Wernhard so that the knitters could have some guidance about how to make a playscape using knitted pieces. The blog Journey Seeds has a post on Knitted Farmyard Animals with a two page spread of what the final result looks like.

Here's a confession: at the last school auction, the third grade class made the complete knitted farm. As the bidding started, a friend and I started to talk about how we could win the bid and SHARE the knitted farmyard. Her husband had hidden her bidding card, but she waved the auctioneer over when her husband left the table to get coffee. The bidding came down to us and another family. As the auctioneer asked if we would go higher, a brief moment of clarity came to me: I was not wealthy. I had no business bidding on that farm. I shook my head, my friend told the auctioneer "No," and the auctioneer went on to the other table. That was a close call. There's a reason why stiff drinks are served at auctions, and it's not to help us make wise decisions.

Children's Book Blogger Triumvirate

Congratulations to Jules Danielson of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, Peter D. Sieruta of Collecting Children's Books and Betsy Bird of A Fuse # Eight Production for Candlewick's acceptance of their book proposal, tentatively titled Wild Things! : The True, Untold Stories Behind the Most Beloved Children’s Books and Their Creators. Each link has each blog's announcement of the book-deal plus details.

Santa Lucia Song and a Crafty Playmat Site

My daughter has been out of school for a good part of the past two weeks. She's had a nasty cold that's dragged on. She's finally on the recovery end, but now I've got the cold lodged in my throat and limbs. I need quiet space in order to think, and that is why I have not had much of a chance to blog or comment. However, I did record a simple version of the "Santa Lucia" song yesterday so that people could have it in time to celebrate on December 13 (I could hear the "fogginess" in my throat even then): Santa Lucia (Saint Lucy) Song. Here are two different Santa Lucia dolls I've made:





Since today is "Crafty Thursday", take a look at the needlefelted playscapes of Sage Dream Design. In addition to finished playscapes with swings, mushroom dwellings and the like, the website offers kits for people to make their own magical forests and meadows. I don't do much needlefelting, but I've been looking at a lot of playmats and nature table scenes for inspiration. My daughter's class auction project this year is going to be composed of four playmats (for four seasons) with figures and accessories. I wanted a project that could be large and impressive in terms of display but be easily packaged away when not in use. Projects from previous years like the circus and puppet-stage required household space that a lot of people simply do not have.

"Stories for You" promotional video

Versant Media created my promotional storytelling video and it's finally available for you to view! Here it is:

Mishearing

In school last Wednesday, one of Lucia's friends was steering a "truck" full of things and stopped when he saw Lucia in his way. The friend said, "Beep, beep!" Lucia didn't move. "Beep, beep!" he said again. She still didn't move.

The friend said, "Excuse me!"

Lucia reached over and gently began to smooth down her friend's hair. Lucia's teacher asked, "Lucia, did you hear him say 'Excuse me?'"

Lucia replied, "Oh. I thought he said, 'Soothe me.'"

Jack Frost song

I uploaded the Jack Frost song yesterday on A Storytelling of Crows. You might wonder why I don't simply post these songs on this blog. However, I like to have a separate site with a specific focus of audio-visual resources for storytelling and music.

Jack Frost and Mrs. Thaw

Happy December! Jack Frost arrived this morning and reminded me that it's probably too late to weed my neglected garden. By mid-day, the frost had all melted. Thus, the struggle between Jack Frost and Mrs. Thaw, as recounted in Ollie's Ski Trip by Elsa Beskow, begins in Seattle, Washington.

I have both a Jack Frost and a Mrs. Thaw in my shop right now:



When my daughter was in a Waldorf parent-tot class, we sang a song based on the poem "Jack Frost Was in the Garden" by John P. Smeeton. I'll have to locate the song again and perhaps record it for A Storytelling of Crows. I posted the Fire Fairy Song yesterday.

As a reminder, two lovely saints' festivals are coming up: St. Nicholas Day on December 6, and St. Lucia Day on December 13.