Words for Writers – Wordsworth
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04, 2018
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04, 2018
A Weekend of Anomalies
An anomaly is a deviation from the common rule, type, arrangement, or form. In order words, something out of the ordinary. Three such unusual events happened last weekend.
- A Blue Paschal Full Moon occurred.
The orb we saw last weekend was officially a Blue Paschal Full Moon.
It was the second full moon of March and any time a two full Moon occur during month it’s called a Blue Moon.
Saturday’s moon was the first full moon after the spring equinox making it a Paschal Full Moon.
The date of the Paschal Full Moon is determined from historical tables that go back to the Council of Nicea in 325 AD when astronomers established an Ecclesiastical Full Moon table to determine Holy Days for Western Christianity.
According to that table, our weekend moon was an ecclesiastical full moon. That’s a full moon that occurs on the 14th day of the ecclesiastical lunar month.
A moon can be any one of these moon types, but a Blue Paschal (ecclesiastical) Full Moon doesn’t happen often. The last time we experienced the phenomena was in 1999. The next time we’ll see a Paschal Blue Moon will be in 2037.
Interesting side note, Paschal is a Greek transliteration of the Aramaic word Pascha meaning Passover. And, this weekend both Passover and Easter coincided.
- Good Friday and Passover fell on the same date.
The exact date of Christ’s resurrection is unknown. Early Christians in determining a date to celebrated correlated their Resurrection feast (Easter) with the Jewish Passover, which is based upon a lunar calendar. As a result, our celebration of Easter is a rotating Holy Day.
Passover began on Friday night and will continue for eight. Easter and Passover are being celebrated at the same time. Another rare happening.
The unusual timing of the weekend caused another two events to occur on the same day this last weekend.
- Easter and April Fools’ Day happened on the same day.
The date of Easter is determined as the first Sunday after the “Paschal Full Moon” falling on or after the Spring Equinox (March 21). This year that Sunday was April 1.
The date for April Fools’ Day is fixed. The annual tradition of playing practical jokes on April Fools’ Day began in 1700.
The last time Easter Sunday fell on April 1 was in 1956.
It’s been much longer since a Blue Paschal Moon rose on March 31, followed the next day by Easter Sunday.
According to Space.com, we’d have to go back to the year 1646 to have a Blue Paschal Moon on Saturday, March 31 followed by Easter Sunday the very next day. There’s no prediction as to when such a unique event will happen again.
This was indeed a weekend filled with anomalies.
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03, 2018
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03, 2018
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03, 2018
Reading Obituaries for Character Development
One of the things I was thrilled to have again now we’re back in Texas is home delivery of the Sunday newspaper. I really missed my Sunday funnies.
And the obituaries. Often the newspaper where we previously lived didn’t even have an obituary section.
Yes, I read the obituaries. I also make a habit of stopping at cemeteries to walk around and read epitaphs on tombstones.
Morbid? Not really. There’s so much to learn from gravestones and obituaries.
All the years of a person’s life are summarized in a few short paragraphs or, in the case of epitaphs, there’s only a line or two. Some obits tell of lives well lived or a life taken too soon, long fruitful lives and sudden loss.
But obituaries are not only a notice of a death; they are great sources of what a life was about.
Some stories tell sobering tales. Some describe ordinary lives with important or interesting jobs. Others tell of mundane or grueling work.
I find descriptions of odd achievements or wild adventures and quirky lives. Still others reveal lives of generosity with time and money.
I’m partial to the photographs. Looking into a face tells a story too. Even the choice of which picture to use can reveal much. Why did the family choose a picture of a much younger grandparent or a photo in uniform when a veteran passes?
Sometimes an obituary reveals a person was far more than who and what we see. Recently, the obituary of an acquaintance told of wide interests about which I knew nothing.
Reading obituaries (and tombstone epithets) makes me appreciate the gift of life more.
They are a stark reminder that life does not go on forever and can serve as a reminder that perhaps I should be more grateful for family and friends.
Obituaries and epithets can be a great writer resource, too.
Full story plots can spring forth along with ideas for character names, backstory, life experiences, and relationships between characters. Even the listing of birthplaces and burial sites gives ideas for setting locations.
Reading obituaries also reminds me that someday my smiling face will appear with a few inches summing up my life. Maybe, to be on the safe side, I should pen my own.
Writing your own obituary to spare your loved ones the task is a trend these days, you know.
What about you? Do you read obituaries only when you hear that someone you know has died, regularly, or not at all? If you never read them, why not?
16
03, 2018
King of the Chicken Yard
A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara
It is very interesting to watch the relational dynamics of the chicken yard. I have a whole new understanding of the term “pecking order.”
There is a specific spot for each hen in the coop at night. When I move those who roost on the bee hives into the coop, there is a certain amount of clucking and squawking before everyone settles down.
The roosters have their own way of handling things.
On our farm, many of the roosters are separated by breed – the blue-laced red Wyandottes are in their own space, Richard the spastic frizzle has his own run and the Welsummer rooster is with his hens in another pen. Sometimes the boys will bow up against the chicken wire that separates them but they really can’t do any damage.
That leaves Kaboodle, the Polish crested, and Custard, the Croad Langston, in the main yard. Custard, you may remember, is named after the Ogden Nash poem, Custard the Cowardly Dragon. He has earned his name by running from even the small D’Uccle hen.
So Kaboodle doesn’t have to work hard to be the Alpha rooster. Just in case anyone doubts that, he has taken to jumping up on the fence and crowing.
He is very careful to return to his side of the fence. He may be King of the Chicken Yard but he knows the dachshunds rule the other side of the fence.
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03, 2018
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03, 2018
The Ides of March – A Time to be Cautious?
The Death of Caesar (1798) By Vincenzo Camuccini, Public Domain
Thanks to high school English classes where William Shakespeare is required reading the phrase The Ides of March can conjure prophecies of doom and a need for caution. Even if you’ve never read Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, you’re probably familiar with the phrase.
But, The Ides of March did not originally mean anything sinister.
Ides comes from the old Latin verb iduare, which meant “to divide.” March 15 was a normal day in the Roman calendar meaning halfway through the month and coincided with the rise of the full moon.
Every month had an Ides. In March, May, July, and October ides fell on the 15th, and in the other months, it came on the 13th.
During Roman times, the Ides of March was the deadline for settling debts. So perhaps, some Romans considered the date ominous even before Shakespeare dramatized the 44 B.C. assassination of Julius Caesar.
But, it was the soothsayer’s warnings to Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s play that forever linked the date with bad luck.
Before March 15, Caesar ruled Rome as a temporary dictatorship. He very much wished to make the position permanent. His quest for power triggered a conspiracy to have him assassinated, and he was stabbed 23 times on the stairs of the Senate House.
Perhaps Caesar should have listened to the soothsayer, who it turns out was a real historical figure named Spurinna. According to Roman historians, Spurinna was a haruspex or religious figure who was able to divine the future by examining the dissected innards of sacrificial animals. He’d seen signs in February and warned Caesar, but Caesar chose to ignore him.
Julius Caesar’s murder is not the only bad thing to happen on The Ides of March or March 15. Check out these:
- Smithsonian list of historical events that have occurred on March 15.
- The UK’s Independent suggests these five events as the worst things that have happened on March 15
- And, lastly, this blog that lists 11 Wonderful Things That Have Happened on the Ides of March
Bad things can happen any day. So can good things.
But I can tell you if I receive any warnings about the Ides of March, I’m going to side with caution. I don’t want a day like the one Julius Caesar had.
Do you think you should be extra cautious on the Ides of March?
9
03, 2018
Well, Help Yourself
A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara
Since we have several different feed pans and different pens of chickens, I have developed a system for feeding the birds in the mornings. I tend to work clockwise.
I throw feed into the runs with the Blue Laced Wyandottes and bantams first. Then I put feed into the four pans in the big pen and the one in the Welsummer pen.
The last to be fed are the two roosters in the long run. They were meant to be sent to freezer camp but one is particularly handsome and the other got a reprieve because it got too dark to keep working.
My system works great usually. Then one morning, I set the pail down and turned around to see one of the Buff Orpingtons helping herself to the feed.
I guess she was really hungry.
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03, 2018
