It's full moon tonight, and it'll be low enough in the northern sky to shine through my bedroom window when I'm asleep. I explained why in my blog yesterday.
I like moon-gazing, in fact I like all sorts of natural phenomena, which is why I'm working on making that my theme next April. I'm a long way from being the only moon-gazer, and the moon has played a huge part in our folklore and mythology. Csenge is a better person to tell you about that than me, and then, of course, there are all those other stories with reference to paranormal influences from the moon!
Whenever I see the phrase "The Moon is round" I think of an old game that was in a book of 'Wonders' I had as a kid, showing various party games to mystify your friends. The idea was that you had a stick (or pole, or rod) which you used to draw on the ground a circle (representing the moon), then adding two eyes, a nose and a mouth with dots and a line. You recited "The Moon is round, and he has two eyes, a nose and a mouth" followed by passing the stick to the person on your left and asking them to do it exactly as you did it. Most of the time the person would not follow your actions perfectly, and you said "No, try again", or passed on to the next person. Anyone that did it exactly as you had you congratulated, which mystified the rest of your friends even more. The secret was that you drew the moon with one hand, but passed the stick into your other hand before passing it on, and most people never changed hands. Silly, but a fun (or infuriating) way to pass the time - especially with nothing more than a stick to play with.
If you're still wondering about a theme for next April's A to Z Challenge, you could look at games, children's games, folklore, or your preferred science. If you cover any of these things in your blog, why not add a link in the comments below.
Jemima Pett writes scifi-influenced stories for children and adults, including the Princelings of the East books - mystery with a time travel twist - and her new series about asteroid miners caught up in a freedom fight.
Follow her blog Jemima Pett, Author
The Princelings website
