Full Moon Picnic Fri May 1st, 8:30-10:30 PM, Pont des Arts

Ahoy there,
Next full moon picnic will be Friday**, May 1 from 8:30 - 10:30 P.M.** Moonrise will be around 9:45 P.M.

May is known by American Indians for the Full Flower Moon because of the wide appearance of flowers during this month. It's also known as Full Corn Planting Moon (for obvious reasons) and as the Milk Moon (for reasons unknown to me, but ones you're invited to research or invent).

WHAT: Everyone brings food and drink to share.

WHERE: Pont des Arts. We'll gather around the 2nd or 3rd bench from the Left Bank side of the bridge. Nearest metros: Pont Neuf and Louvre-Rivoli.

WHEN: Friday**,** May 1 from 8:30-10:30 P.M.

WHY: Share one of the most memorable sights in Paris with some of the nicest people around.

WHO: You and your friends.

THEME: May Day. 🌿 or depending on world news MAY DAY! MAY DAY! MAY DAY! 🔥

BIRTHDAYS: Bully for you if you’re a Taurus? Bring a cake and let me know so we can celebrate your birthday this month and blow out the world’s largest birthday candle.

HOW to find us: Keep your eyes out for a bunch of lunatics eating, drinking an chatting in English and French. Look for a small white telescope, weather permitting.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: What did we learn from Artemis II voyage around the moon?

DISCUSSION ANSWER: We learned a lot about the moon and its craters on the far side (not the dark side. There is no dark side, just the earth side and the other side. Each side is in sunlight half the time. I think.) We learned that meteors impact the surface of the moon every few minutes, creating impact flashes visible during darkness. There is no atmosphere to burn them up as on Earth. Most of what we learned came from taking photos, 10,000 of them. We learned that the most emotionally striking photo was "Earth-set” from an iPhone rather than from a much more expensive camera. We learned the Artemis II is an impressive spaceship. But possibly the most profound thing we learned was about the other spaceship - Earth I. There is no Earth II (sorry moon). There is no Planet B. We are all on a fragile blue marble hurtling through a big black dark lonely void of space, protected by an atmosphere as thin as the skin of an apple if Earth were shrunk to that size. How amazing that this little blue marble is covered with mountains and rivers and oceans teeming with all manner of life. From space the astronauts saw beautiful patterns of land, water and clouds, but didn’t see any national boundaries, nor feel any bombs nor hear any disputes created by solely by humans who sometimes forget they have everything they need to enjoy an incredibly rich existence with beauty, culture, knowledge and pickleball. Maybe we need to send everybody on a trip into deep space and anybody who still can’t appreciate the miracle of our place in the universe like those astronauts did, well just leave them there.

https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=1275621707700166

Ciao for niao,
Captain Bob