Once in a Blue Moon

The moon has been speaking to me...


And I have been trying to understand what it is trying to tell me.

Ever since our Disney cruise, I have noticed the moon in the sky more than usual. And in the beginning of December, I read in Discover magazine how this New Year's eve, we would have a full moon -- and it would be the second full moon in December -- which in modern times is referred to as a blue moon.


A blue moon has come to be known as the second full moon in a calendar month and that only occurs once in every 2.7 years (and it doesn't refer to the color of the moon at all...but you could read about that here) A blue moon on New Year's eve? Well, that only occurs once in every 19 years -- the last one being in 1990 and the next one won't happen again until 2028.

Since I read about it, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that it's significant in some way...I even read somewhere that there's a belief that to bathe in the light of the full moon on New Year's eve is good luck.

Well, I can sink my teeth into that notion -- I like the idea that spending time in the full moon this New Year's will bring me good luck...and I hope it lasts until the next Blue Year's Eve in 2028...(somebody call the TV station...I think I just coined a new term)

So, as I began to think about planning for next year and the years beyond as we all have a tendency to do this time of year...I wanted to mark this rare event in some special way...

And I wanted to make a book wrap to go around the graph-paper, cardboard-covered blank journals I like to write in...


I knew I wanted to use velvet for the moon just like Jude Hill used in this post...I've always admired Jude's moon -- and I mean that in the nicest way...

And I knew I wanted to use the loose-weave, handwoven indigo cloth that I used in Japan when I studied sashiko embroidery.


The fabric is yielding and open to changes, freely accepting and shifting to make way for new threads...new ideas...

But why had the moon led me to make a journal wrap? And why to use my Japanese supplies to do it with?

I wonder what the moon has in store for me this New Year's eve? And I wonder what resolutions I will write in those blank pages?

I think I should be considering long-term ideas in this journal -- a kind of "Where I'd like to be by the next Blue Year's Eve"...


I purposefully left my book wrap unfinished -- no seams -- so that I can continue to stitch and add to it's story...

I went and checked on the symbolism of the moon in Japan -- only to find out that they have over a hundred ways of representing it in art and literature...and it most definitely represents the tides, the ebb and flow of life, the passage of time...

Hmmm....

So what do we do with this blue moon this New Year's Eve?

I like this idea of George Bailey's from It's A Wonderful Life....



I love the idea of moonbeams shooting out of my fingers and toes.

And I love the idea of taking a bath in the moonlight on New Year's eve. Though I'm not sure our weather is going to cooperate...I wonder if it will still count if we go outside anyway?? Sure it will!

So get out there and moonbathe everyone!

May you have a New Year full of fortune and moonbeams shooting out your fingers and toes!