On a March 13th Thursday, I was born. 67 years later (yesterday), on another March 13th Thursday, I celebrated my Birthday. Many of my High School friends wished me a great day on Facebook. A lot of my College Friends wished me a Happy Birthday with text messages (along with a friend from Japan). Several people called me on the phone: My sister and my daughter. My granddaughter stopped by.
I have always been a follower of politics. In high School, I made a big deal to register to vote. In College, While I majored in Journalism and Advertising, I lived on the Political Science dorm floor. I took many Poli Sci classes, and enjoyed studying Political Science, even was an activist protester.
No one now-a-days seems to want to discuss politics. There is no middle ground for civil discussions, which is sad. There are so many interesting and unusual, sometimes scary, things happening. Politics is now a business, and there are always moves and programs that surprise me. I got a rare gift for my birthday-political discussions without anger and hatred. It was wonderful, these discussions. First, two and a half hours with my sister. She had the insight of her husband, a retired Marine, now working as a civilian for government, and a year and half from retiring from that service. We had a great talk.
Then my daughter, a teacher in Illinois, called me. She had personal views on Federal and State politics in her field. We had a healthy talk for about an hour. Finally, when my granddaughter stopped by, we talked about her views on how politics affect her. She voted last year-the first year she was able. She gave her give and takes for about twenty minutes. None of us were trying to change minds, we all got a little more understandings from the listening and talking with each other. It was something that happens like in a rare Blue Moon, and it was a great moment from three different generations, to able to just civilly discuss a little politics. What a present!
I also found out that later that night, another moon phenomenon would happen. Just after midnight, there would be a lunar eclipse. They call it a Blood Moon because there is a reddish glow when the moon is completely covered by the shadow of the Earth. I did not want to miss this.
I had several hours to wait before the event, so I went down to my library. As I sat in my recliner reading chair, thinking what to read, there seemed to appear a silvery light that landed on a shelf of astronomy books. The first book illuminated was “A Study of the Sky” by Herbert Howe, published in 1896. I picked it up to read.
On the Frontispiece (the picture opposite the title page) is a photograph of the moon being eclipsed. There are several more photographs in the book, and a wonderful chapter on the moon. Much detail on both lunar and solar eclipses was read.
That silvery light then moved along some books on the same shelf, and remained on another book. This large book is “Atlas of the Moon” by Vincent de Callataÿ, published in 1964.
I picked up the book and thumbed through it. This is a great scientific book about the moon. There are beautiful photographic plates of the moon. Like an Earth atlas, many details of the moon are shone and labeled. There is also much about the moon: size, rotation, eclipses, and many other details of moon studies. There are many pages of indexed lunar formations, and where they were found, correlated to the plates.
My dimmed but still visible silver light then moved to the children’s section of the library. It landed on “The First Book of The Moon” by Carroll V. Glines, published in 1967.
This is, as the title suggests, a very nice book to first teach kids about the moon. There is much on how the ancients first viewed the moon, to the earliest studies. The author explained how the moon causes tides, how the moon was formed, why there are craters on the moon, why there are different lit shapes of the moon during the month, and even about the “other side” of the moon that never faces the Earth. This book gives young minds much to think about as they gaze upwards to the moon.
My silvery light moved then over a shelf or two to another children’s book, “Wigwam Evenings” by Charles A. Eastman and Elaine Goodale, published in 1937.
This is a book of Sioux folk tales. The author stated that the stories “are intended to be read beside an open fire to children of five years old and upward, or in the school-room by the nine, ten, eleven-year olds in their corresponding grades.”
One Sioux tale is “The Beloved of the Sun”. The story goes that a young Indian warrior and his sister were living in a Teepee together after their parents disappeared, and one day, in a flash of light, a young man appeared to the girl. He looked similar to her brother, who was out hunting, but he acted more like a suiter. He left before the brother came home.
After several visits, the brother snuck back home during the day, and wrestled the intruder. After they fought for a while, the stranger said, “Stop. I came not to harm you or the maiden, but to make her my wife! Know that I am the Sun, and she shall be know as the Moon, and will rule over the night if she will come with me.”
The girl yielded and went with the Sun. It was said that she will not shine every night because she was only a mortal maiden and is soon wearied. Her strength ebbs and flows throughout the month. The stars are their children.
After I read the book, that silvery light lead me to the door. It was time to see the Lunar Eclipse, about 1:30 in the morning. I watched the moon slowly be covered by the Earth’s shadow. The moon became darker and darker, and was finally cast with a reddish glow. I was able to take this picture.
This was yesterday. Today, I am at my daughter’s home. That silvery light reappeared. I followed it to a bookcase in her home. It lead me to “Many Moons” by James Thurber, published in 1990.
This is a charming book about the sick Princess Lenore. She told her father, the King, that she would get better if he could give her the moon. The King asked the Lord High Chamberlain, the Royal Wizard, and the Royal Mathematician how to get the moon, but it was finally the Jester who was able to help the King save Princess Lenore.
This book was an early one in my library, one I read to my young daughter often. One day not too long ago, my grown-up daughter asked me if she could have the book, to take home to her library, as it was her favorite book. Of course I handed it to her. Like the storybook King and his Princess, I would give the moon to my daughter to see her smile. And in a sense, I think I did.
Thanks for reading, and keep looking up to the moon.
Librarytomes 