Once in a blue moon

The Fishing Party

Fitz Hugh Lane

1850, the year of a blue moon

When a calendar month has two full moons, the second one is called a "Blue Moon." Tonight is a blue moon, and there won't be another until summer 2015.  The popular expression (meaning a rare event) started with a 1946 Sky and Telescope magazine article written by James Pruett called, "Once in A Blue Moon."   But the earliest English usage of the term "blue moon" was in a 1524 pamphlet attacking the English clergy.  It went something like this:

If the say the moon is belewe

We must believe that it is true...

I like the expression.  It covers the entire range of unusual events, from happy and quirky to sad and inexplicable-- the things which fortunately only happen "once in a blue moon."  Sometimes they even happen on the same day.

Having a sunny, warm Labor Day weekend in Seattle is "once in a blue moon."  August has gone down as the driest month ever recorded in Seattle, without a drop of measurable rain at SeaTac Airport.  Amanda and little Nova will be here later today and we're looking forward to a weekend at home.  New pictures soon of our sweethearts.