ramblings from an arkansas farm girl
We created a moon garden by accident! I realized this a few nights ago when, half asleep, I trudged outside with Gracie and Annabelle and saw the Man in the Moon perfectly situated in the sky above our backyard. It was like he was waiting for us. And, even though he was still one day shy of full, his brilliant spotlight made our plants glow.
We’ve created a moon garden, I thought, completely mesmerized by the scene.
Sometimes, darkness brings light.Continue Reading
Dear Sunday Letter friends,
This past week has been hotter than a pepper sprout. Really, it’s the humidity that’s been blanket-thick here where I live.
Bottom line…
Just forget about the hairdo.
Thank goodness we went to the lake before this heat and humidity settled in like an old man in a horrible mood.?Continue Reading
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, January’s full wolf moon was named for wolf packs that howled outside Indian villages “during the cold and deep snows of midwinter”.
My fascination with the moon began in the fall of 1969 when Mrs. Hilliard wheeled the bulky black and white television between desks in our first grade classroom. Instead of doing alphabet worksheets, we watched Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walk on the moon from high above our spot in Keiser, Arkansas. At the time I had no idea the news clip was a rebroadcast. (I was probably at the lake on July 20 when the giant leap actually happened…)
A few years later, Mr. Ring assigned a month long moon project in science class. I was just weird enough to love month long projects…especially about space.
Each night I stared at the black sky from my location in the backyard between the pump house and the cotton field. On a piece of plain notebook paper, I charted the moon’s positions and phases. In thirty days it waxed from new to full then disappeared again. I began to realize even though it looked different every night, it never changed. It was the same moon, the only moon, the moon that guided Columbus, the moon that had watched over our Earth forever.
By month’s end, my project was detailed and accurate. A work of art.
I’m pretty sure most of my friends threw their reports together without a glance toward the heavens…
Wherever you are, be sure to glance at our Full Wolf Moon tonight.
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
“It is a beautiful and delightful sight to behold the body of the Moon.”
― Ptolemy
Musical Pairing:
Mindy Gledhill, Winter Moon
