Full Moon Alert

  Full Moon rises tonight at 620 as the sun sets at 623, pretty close to synchronous. It has been humid and very dry and dusty so I'm expecting good color. We will see.  Life has been interesting of late. Our family has lost 5 significant friends and members in the last week or 10 days. whew, that is a lot of tears. P and I were in Grand Coteau for the wake of a life long friend and P's distant cousin, Karleen Barry, wife and mother of 8 and such a funny lady. It was a warm and fuzzy affair. I guess this is a big part of life. A good bud, Judith, who knows that I like to dabble in poetry sent me this fun Barbara Crooker poem last summer. Quite the FMA appropriate poem: How the Trees on Summer Nights Turn into a Dark River how you can never reach it, no matter how hard you try, walking as fast as you can, but getting nowhere, arms and legs pumping, sweat drizzling in rivulets; each year, a little slower, more creaks and aches, less breath. Ah, but these soft nights, air l...

 The full moon rises Thursday September 28 at 645,  just before sunset at 656. Yeowser, should be a grand magnified color show, hang on to your hats y'all. The moon last night came up and was quite splendid, just a shadow on one edge from perfect, then it shined its headlight in my eyes all night as I attempted sleep. Look y'all, Margaret has been at it again: Is it the play of light on the surface or air bubbles moving over glass-calm water I watch still, quiet bayou breathe, like me, slow and deliberate taking in life- giving oxygen. We are trying to survive, bayou and I, trying to make this day meaningful all the while knowing breath is all that matters. Margaret Simon, draft 8-30-23 P and I ran into town to grab a fancy meal to celebrate our 55th, oh my! On way back, dark, missed the full moon risen. when we arrived home someone sent a congrats text, "congrats on 55 on this full moon night". Shoots! we were in our PJs already but hey, we grab...

"I am looking at trees  they may be one of the things I will miss  most from the earth" W. S. Merwin "Trees"   Yes they are gone, MIKIs left my patch of lower upper St Martin last week right after our "cool snap"... You do know they don't like cold weather...Eddie still has them where he sits on the edge of the great swamp but they are moving in the direction of the escarpment and riparian forests...I call it "staging" for migration to warmer places for winter. This Full Moon rises Blue and magnificent today August 30 at 742, about 10 minutes after the sun sets. should be a grand colorful magnified affair. Speaking of grand, our 55th wedding anniversary is tomorrow, Thursday. Now that day will be well celebrated as well. I'm just grateful she didn't kick me to the curb a long time ago. 8-16-23 Cool front! Well sort of anyway. Like I always say... if you pay attention there will always be that cool night in August to give us a brief br...

 This one is a Super Moon or so  my My Moon Phase app says. The Full Grand Master Mosquito Hawk Moon rises at about 830 after a memorable sunset at 8. P and I hope to meet up with Eddie B at his perch out on the edge of the great Sacred Swamp, Atchafalaya, for both events. Our hope is to have a glass of tart red in our hands so we can salute you our friends. We sort of invited ourselves. Quote from my Yoga Tea bag, "Find strength in knowing that you can make a difference in the world." 7-2-23 Full Longest Day Moon was not a disappointment here on the Gulf Rim, but boy is it dry.  I have finished Lab Girl, Y'all! Another great read! I've begun Hope Jahren's "The Story of More".  I was on campus Monday, we were talking and one of the Dr's walked up with a young visitor from Norway, Charles. Charles, finished HS headed to U to study Chemistry, was doing research in Dr's lab. Really bright person, turns out to be Hope Jahren's son, small world y...

 6-3-23 Full Screaming Locust Moon Alert put to bed and she rose grandly! 5-24-23 Jetted of to DC to check on Daughter-in-law who has been ill. 5-30-23 last day on the job Wednesday, been listening for the sound of Cicada Killer Wasps at work, lots of burrows waiting for victims to bury. Today I heard one, the protracted scream as the wasp grsbbed one srung it and flew it to grouind, drug it the rest of the way to the ground burrow, tucked it into the nest, laid an egg on it, leaving it alive until the hungry larvae hatched and fed. Ha! 6-1-23 first day of retirement. My little brother John, Dr. John, as I, (Elder) and Jeff, (Baby) call him. was awarded The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana's Coastal Stewardship Award for 2023. Pretty cool to be recognized by your peers for working hard and in the background and doing good work. We are so proud of him. I have always admired how he looked for the low-tech, simple, sensible economically simple solutions to our land loss issues. ...

5-5-23 Full Mosquito Hawk Tornado Moon occured as planned, it rose, it set and some of you were thrilled by it. As you know, I missed it, shoots! 5-11-23 I taught the last class of this chapter in my life. 5-12-23 MIKI over my rectangle of Lower Upper St Martin. 5-14-23 Margaret posted the following for Mothers Day: Last year on Mother's Day, we gathered for my father's funeral, all together, happy to have each other to hold. I am a mother who is blessed to have two living mothers, my own and my mother-in-law, who said years ago when someone called me her daughter, "I'll claim her." A long line of belonging begins with mothers to me to my three daughters to their children. We are miracles dancing beside each other. My brother texted me a video this week of my mother with her assisted living friends in a circle singing "Amazing Grace." I responded, "When I am old, I want to sing hymns." My mother-in-law (affectionately called "Minga") ...

5-8-23 Shoots! How did this happen, AGAIN? Thursday/Friday exploded on me, I totally lost control of my life and work, it was end of final week, whew! Oh, I also lost 40 student's names and grades from the Moodle grade book, gulp. luckily it was operator error and I didn't delete them, whew,  I just hid them from me...and found them again. So... the FMHTM rose and set without my letting the three or four of you listening know about this great event, again. I'm so sorry. I'll work on my flaws and try not to let it happen again, sigh. This is what the FMA would have said: 5-4-23 Greetings to (all three of you) my readership! May the fourth be with you! Middle of final exam week here in my world and I may still pull this off. I taught my last class last Thursday 4-27-23, a dizzying event for me but I'm now over it. Yulp, the old guy is retiring as of 5-31-23. It looks like the full moon will happen here tomorrow, Friday 5-5-23, just minutes before the sun sets. I'm...

 Yulp, that is the question I have been getting all February, actually even part of January. They also want to know if the Pecan Trees are budding (a sure sign of spring in our part of the country). Pecans are dead dormant these days I tell them, then I say that winter is over in my opinion. I can see the skepticism in their eyes but most don't doubt me to my face, I'm sure it is out of respect for my elderness. I know they go to some other younger, better looking, less knowledgeable resource to get the answer they are asking for. Eddie B sent me a photo this morning of 4 planets aligned from his night sky, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Eddie also sent a photo of his garden plowed and ready for his crops,  including Okra, a summer crop, must be, so there! Eddie C sent photos of his Live Oaks shucking off all their leaves and growing new ones, must be, so there! The old guys have spoken! Full moon rises tonight at 630, 20 minutes after sunset. Should be a pretty fine show y...

  The Full Mardi Gras Maple Moon rise nearly synchronous  with the setting sun on February  5, Sunday, so I declare that day the Full moon. My calendar says could be Saturday or Monday but who can tell. They will look the same to me. This FMA is also dedicated to my friend (???) Pat, last name to remain unstated, after that comment at the Andalusia Ball where he was The MC. "Perhaps we could wow the crowd with a recitation of that months FMA! Nobody would notice.. ." This proclamation came form him after I told him he missed an opportunity, the stellar MC he is, of introducing the Tree Whisperer, moi, to the hometown crowd. He could have mixed it in with the Mayor Pro Temps, High Sheriff and so on. And I can always use the free advertising in my little side gig, it is so hard to be an expert in your own backyard k y'all... and then he throws that barb back at me and laughs irreverently. Now, I know who my friends are... Name of this month's FMA comes from brother Joh...

  Hey Y'all,  The Full Snow Goose Moon rises today at 5:08, the sun sets about 5:22, that is pretty close to being in sync. Should be quite a show.  Paula and I will bundle up on this blue-bird day, so clear and crisp and travel somewhere with a unobstructed view. I wonder what Eddie B is doing this afternoon? He has the best moon watching spot in this part of God's Earth. Sorry I missed the FMA deadline for December, my bad, that moon caught me middle of finals. During a trip to the Cajun Prairie in Eunice we were privileged to enjoy a visit with Malcolm Vidrine, one of the Prairie Gurus. Mac recommended that I read George Monbiot's REGENESIS. This quote from p. 25 from that book: "Learning about the soil has taught me, to a greater extent than ever before, that we establish our truths from information that's patchy and shallow, beneath which lie realities we scarcely imagine. Widely accepted claims are based on hearsay and myth, while scientific findings, however...