Pbenjay's Blog

A Moonalogue! Ah poetic license is a delight.  I’m a sun worshipper from May to September BUT I adore the moon all year long.   I look forward to the full moons, even though that’s when the lunatics come out and that’s when if you are in an office it can quickly become a Full Moon Friday. When I used to manage a real estate office in Midtown Manhattan, I can attest to the fact that when there was a full moon, everyone was nuts; brokers were arguing over just about anything, the copier would break down, the receptionist would get huffy with a client, the secretaries made mistakes and the computers would freeze up, yeah, that’s a Full Moon Friday.

The sun is essential to our livelihood, without it we can’t survive in a cold dark world and for those attributes and the fact that you can get a tawny healthy-looking tan, we pay homage to the Egyptian sun god, Ra.  And to clarify where this blog is going;  it is NOT a comparison or a competition between the sun and the moon, because after all, they are as different as night and day (pun intended).  Instead if you bear with me, you will read a rapturous testimonial to the Moon.

Moonies (NO NOT those guys) are everywhere and have been throughout the ages.  Native Americans or Indians as most of the people reading this blog know them as. (before politically correct became the rule of the day), revered the moon as they did most of the forces of nature.  They had names for each of the year’s full moons. ; JanaryWolf Moon, February – Snow Moon or Hunger Moon (as we know from living in Ocean Grove, they were dead on right with Snow Moon!), March – Maple Sugar Moon, April –  Frog Moon, Pink Moon or Planter’s Moon, May- Flower Moon or Budding Moon, June – Strawberry Moon, July – Blood Moon or Buck Moon, August – Moon of the Green Corn or Sturgeon Moon, September – Harvest Moon, October – Hunter’s Moon or Moon of Falling Leaves, November – Beaver Moon, December – Cold Moon. Don’t you just love those  effortless and telling descriptive names? –

The moon is mysterious, magical and mystical and has so many faces – of course the one we all know best is the Man in the Moon, a deceptive description told to kids when they are young and gullible and believe everything parents say.  As for myself, before the Man in the Moon untruth, came the Moon is Made of Cheese, Green Cheese! Regardless of these misguided misconceptions of my youth, I can honestly say that as an adult, I am a full-fledged moon devotee, a Moonie if you will. And I am not alone;  Songwriters are  especially fond of songs with Moon in the title.  Here are several that I know:  as an aside, this knowledge is a bit dangerous because several times I have said that I thought collecting song sheets with moon titles would make a very interesting collection.  And we all know that I don’t need another collection!  But again, I digress….Moon Over Miami, Moonlight in Vermont, Oh, You Crazy Moon, Moonlight Becomes You, Fly Me to the Moon, Black Moon, Moon Glow, How High is the Moon, There’s a Moon Out Tonight, Moon River, Moonlight Shadow, Caught Between the Moon and New York City, Harvest Moon, Blue Moon of Kentucky, Missisippi Moon, Moondreams, Kiko and The Lavender Moon, Moonchild, Shepherd Moon, Moonlight and Roses, By the Light of the Moon. I think I better stop now or I’ll lose my readers.  How about Luna Park one of the  three famous Coney Island amusement parks?  Then there were the novels: Owl Moon, Moon Tiger, Where’s the Moon There’s the Moon, and Eugene O’Neill’s  play Moon for the Misbegotten. And even a couple of movies: Moonlight Mile, A Walk on the Moon and Paper Moon.

I have to admit I’ve  gone to some extremes to look at a full moon and I  really did love gazing at the moon from the Top of the Rock (which is at the top of Rockefeller Center), the Empire State Building, the Saugerties Lighthouse  the Hudson River, a deck of a cottage overlooking Star Pond in Belmont, VT.

I think I’ve waxed and waned long enough about the moon and best end this blog before I lose my readers all together.  Another day, another blog and we can marvel over the wonderment of seeing the moon during the day aloft in a blue and cloudless sky as well as carry on about the Crescent Moons and where and why they are so much a part of symbolism.  Good Night Moon!