farmdoc's blog post number 620

The last day of each year’s never a happy day for me. Because on this date, my darling Mum died. Fourteen years later, I still miss her dreadfully. To my shame, I didn’t mention her in last year’s 31 December blog post. I resolved not to do that again. So far, so good. Also each 31 December I’m conscious, increasingly so each year, that my own end nears. I don’t know how many years I have left. But I’m always glad to make it to the end of another one. The big year-end topic that’s fascinated me this year, is whether or not tonight’s moon is a blue moon. Wikipedia mentions several definitions of a blue moon. Colour has nothing to do with any of them. One definition is two full moons in the same calendar month. The previous full moon was on 2 December. The question is whether there’s another one tonight. Last Monday’s Age said yes. But Tuesday’s SMH said no. The SMH is correct: Geoscience Australia’s website tells us the full moon’s on 31 December at 7:13 p.m. UTC (i.e. Greenwich Mean Time) which equates to 6:13 a.m. on 1 January eastern Australia daylight saving time. Anyway that’s for the purists. I can tell you two things: first, when you look at the New Year’s Eve sky tonight you’ll see a full moon; and second, only once in a blue moon is someone lucky enough to have a Mum as wonderful as mine.