Once in a blue moon
02/08/23 03:24
We went walking after supper last night. Our walk coincided with high tide. The creek had a strong current running upstream as we crossed the bridge and we had to scramble over some rocks to walk along the shore. There was almost no beach in once place. A few inches higher and we would have had to divert around that place or get our feet wet.
There are no clouds in the sky and the moon appeared very bright after nightfall. It is a supermoon - one of two that we will experience this month. When a full moon coincides with perigee - the closest the moon comes to the earth in its elliptic orbit - the moon appears slightly larger than usual. The technical term for this phenomenon is perigee syzygy - a term that is not only fun to pronounce, but also fun to spell.
The second full moon in a month is called a blue moon. It is a relatively rare event, occurring once every two or three years. When the blue moon is also a supermoon, a blue perigee syzygy, it is a relatively rare celestial event. If there were to be a lunar eclipse, which will not happen this month, it would be even more uncommon - a blood blue perigee syzygy - which is not the same as blue blood, a completely different phenomenon.
Earl Thomas Conley wrote a song about a blue moon:
Nine times of ten, she's right and I am wrong,
When I won't give in she just goes along
Standing by my side, sitting home alone
I'll never know what keeps her hanging on
When anybody else would be long gone
But once in a blue moon I'll do something right
And Once in a blue moon I'll make her feel so fine
I can make her laugh, And make her cry
She hates the way she loves me sometimes
Once in a blue moon I'll do something right
I’m willing to accept August, 2023 as a rare event in my life, thought it hasn’t been that long since I was unemployed during the month of August. It happened in 2020 after we retired from our position in Rapid City, but by 2021, I was back at work in the interim position that ended on the last day of July this year. As was the case in 2020, I am unsure what will come next for employment for me.
I read an article yesterday about baby boomers who are returning to work after retirement. It is a common phenomenon - not something that occurs only once in a blue moon. Interestingly the article also said that nearly a quarter of millennials, born between 1981 and 1994, do not expect to ever retire from work. Our children are among the oldest millennials, born at the beginning of that generation. I think they have different expectations about retirement. Our daughter, who has been a stay at home mother for a few years, expects to return to work for wages, but also is planning with her husband for retirement. Our son speaks of changing his employment, making more time to be at home with his family, but doesn’t speak of retirement often. Of course time will tell what occurs, but it does seem that they have different attitudes about it.
Retirement is something that doesn’t occur in every part of the world and it is relatively new in the United States. The Social Security Act was signed into law by President Roosevelt in August of 1935. The federal insurance program created continuing income for workers over the age of 65. At the time life expectancies were lower and the period of retirement was relatively short. Our grandparents were the first generation to make use of the program. The income was supplemental for them. It was common for people of their generation to have some work for income beyond their retirement. The next generation was able to retire more fully. Many of the people in our parents’ generation retired at age 62. They also lived longer than the previous generation resulting in a whole new business of retirement activities and eventually retirement care as their health failed.
Our generation knew from the start of our working years that Social Security alone wouldn’t be sufficient income for retirement. Many of us were able to take part in employer-funded annuities or retirement savings programs which supplement the support of the federal insurance program, making retirement for our generation to be common. It definitely happens more often than once in a blue moon.
I’ve decided that I enjoy the change of pace of working for a while and then taking a few months off. I think I’d be pretty happy with a job where I worked part of the year and took part of the year off. That kind of job, however, is a bit more rare. Who knows, however, I might just find one once in a blue moon. I’ve got at least a month to figure that out, and I plan to take more than a month as a change of pace. I’ve got a list of projects and plans for the next couple of months. It is going to be fun.
Yesterday my wife was talking with our daughter in law about possible dates for a camping trip with our grandchildren before they return to school at the end of this month. The six year old overheard them talking about an adventure. A few minutes later the three older grandchildren appeared outside with their shoes on, ready to leave immediately. The six year old had overheard talk of an adventure and reported to her siblings in a way that made them seem that departure was imminent. It made me laugh when my wife reported the incident to me. I like their sense of adventure and eagerness to have a new experience.
I hope that I can retain a bit of the feeling of that six-year-old granddaughter. I’m keeping my shoes near the door, ready for the next adventure. It may come only once in a blue moon, but a blue moon is heading our way.
There are no clouds in the sky and the moon appeared very bright after nightfall. It is a supermoon - one of two that we will experience this month. When a full moon coincides with perigee - the closest the moon comes to the earth in its elliptic orbit - the moon appears slightly larger than usual. The technical term for this phenomenon is perigee syzygy - a term that is not only fun to pronounce, but also fun to spell.
The second full moon in a month is called a blue moon. It is a relatively rare event, occurring once every two or three years. When the blue moon is also a supermoon, a blue perigee syzygy, it is a relatively rare celestial event. If there were to be a lunar eclipse, which will not happen this month, it would be even more uncommon - a blood blue perigee syzygy - which is not the same as blue blood, a completely different phenomenon.
Earl Thomas Conley wrote a song about a blue moon:
Nine times of ten, she's right and I am wrong,
When I won't give in she just goes along
Standing by my side, sitting home alone
I'll never know what keeps her hanging on
When anybody else would be long gone
But once in a blue moon I'll do something right
And Once in a blue moon I'll make her feel so fine
I can make her laugh, And make her cry
She hates the way she loves me sometimes
Once in a blue moon I'll do something right
I’m willing to accept August, 2023 as a rare event in my life, thought it hasn’t been that long since I was unemployed during the month of August. It happened in 2020 after we retired from our position in Rapid City, but by 2021, I was back at work in the interim position that ended on the last day of July this year. As was the case in 2020, I am unsure what will come next for employment for me.
I read an article yesterday about baby boomers who are returning to work after retirement. It is a common phenomenon - not something that occurs only once in a blue moon. Interestingly the article also said that nearly a quarter of millennials, born between 1981 and 1994, do not expect to ever retire from work. Our children are among the oldest millennials, born at the beginning of that generation. I think they have different expectations about retirement. Our daughter, who has been a stay at home mother for a few years, expects to return to work for wages, but also is planning with her husband for retirement. Our son speaks of changing his employment, making more time to be at home with his family, but doesn’t speak of retirement often. Of course time will tell what occurs, but it does seem that they have different attitudes about it.
Retirement is something that doesn’t occur in every part of the world and it is relatively new in the United States. The Social Security Act was signed into law by President Roosevelt in August of 1935. The federal insurance program created continuing income for workers over the age of 65. At the time life expectancies were lower and the period of retirement was relatively short. Our grandparents were the first generation to make use of the program. The income was supplemental for them. It was common for people of their generation to have some work for income beyond their retirement. The next generation was able to retire more fully. Many of the people in our parents’ generation retired at age 62. They also lived longer than the previous generation resulting in a whole new business of retirement activities and eventually retirement care as their health failed.
Our generation knew from the start of our working years that Social Security alone wouldn’t be sufficient income for retirement. Many of us were able to take part in employer-funded annuities or retirement savings programs which supplement the support of the federal insurance program, making retirement for our generation to be common. It definitely happens more often than once in a blue moon.
I’ve decided that I enjoy the change of pace of working for a while and then taking a few months off. I think I’d be pretty happy with a job where I worked part of the year and took part of the year off. That kind of job, however, is a bit more rare. Who knows, however, I might just find one once in a blue moon. I’ve got at least a month to figure that out, and I plan to take more than a month as a change of pace. I’ve got a list of projects and plans for the next couple of months. It is going to be fun.
Yesterday my wife was talking with our daughter in law about possible dates for a camping trip with our grandchildren before they return to school at the end of this month. The six year old overheard them talking about an adventure. A few minutes later the three older grandchildren appeared outside with their shoes on, ready to leave immediately. The six year old had overheard talk of an adventure and reported to her siblings in a way that made them seem that departure was imminent. It made me laugh when my wife reported the incident to me. I like their sense of adventure and eagerness to have a new experience.
I hope that I can retain a bit of the feeling of that six-year-old granddaughter. I’m keeping my shoes near the door, ready for the next adventure. It may come only once in a blue moon, but a blue moon is heading our way.
