Almost a blue moon

Darkness, quiet… you can feel the end of the year like tide going out. Blue moon tomorrow, once in a blue moon. I feel shadowed and rather bleak, from parts of life that can’t be written on a blog. It’s interesting to create this public almost-diary, in a medium which feels totally personal (just me and my laptop here on the sofa in the quiet woods) and yet actually every word I write, about myself or anyone else, leaps absolutely out of my control the moment I click on “publish”. So, suffice it to say that the moon seems distant tonight.

But here’s something sweet:

We have a neighbor who has worked at post offices for 25 years. The last 9 or 10 of these years, she’s been postmaster here on the island, handing out our mail on the three days each week when the mail boat makes the trip. After tomorrow, she will be retired and free… she’s been counting the days for months now.

Our New Year’s Eve party will celebrate both the New Year and our friend’s new liberty. (Plus during her workday tomorrow some folks are planning some improvisational theatre surprises for her; I can only write this because I know she won’t read it.) The night-time party will (of course) be a potluck; maybe I’ll bring a loaf of the bread that’s in the oven right now, and a jar of the relatively successful marmalade I produced today.

I’m glad the nights are getting shorter now, even if only by a handful of seconds, and I’m glad of a celebration.