January twelfth

Tim and the boys and I always try to beat one other to the car wherever it is parked when we come out of the movie, or the supermarket or wherever.  We helter-skelter, trying to remember where the car is in the first place, then darting in and out of the rows of parked cars, cheating by trying to distract or hold the other back until the last minute, and then there is the final mad rush to get there and be the first to actually touch the car! It is seldom that I win.  Tonight we went into the city to watch a movie and have dinner with Nick, and afterwards, coming up to the alleyway leading to the parking lot we all suddenly took off, but the young lion  beat the old lion by a few lengths, the old lioness bringing up the rear, running her heart out, but to no avail!

My littlest granddaughter is five months old today.  Funny how for the first two years your age is counted in months, and thereafter, once you have done all that amazing growing and developing month by month, you are measured in years for the rest of your life. 

Ella at two weeks with grandpa

Grandpa still has the right touch to send babies gently to sleep!

We are watching her grow remotely, but hope that in the future we can all live closer together.  It is torture sometimes to see these babies on Skype and not be able to reach out and hold them close, stroke their tender cheeks, cup their soft-haired heads in your hands, feel their comfortable weight in your arms.

Humans have been measuring periods of time according to the moon since Upper Palaeolithic times, about 30 000 years ago, according to ancient tally-sticks.  The Ishango bone found in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been given various interpretations by different archaeologists, and several scholars believe that it shows a six-month lunar calendar, or a menstrual calendar, and that it was probably made by a woman.  It is the fibula of a baboon, with a sharp piece of quartz fixed to one end.  (I was interested to read that recent archaeological evidence suggests that at the beginning of the Palaeolithic, about 300 000 years ago, people banded together in egalitarian groups, and that hunting and gathering were done by both sexes, and also, that they looked after their elderly.  There is a theory that the later division of labour was probably what allowed Homo sapiens to out-compete the Neanderthals.) 

The word month is derived from the word moon and many types of calendars, such as the ancient Hellenic, Hebrew and Islamic calendars, were based on the lunar cycle.  Depending on your location on the earth, the lunar orbit and cycle is not very constant, and therefore a solar calendar was gradually developed from the Roman calendar, called the Gregorian calendar, which has been in use since the mid-1500's and is used by most of the contemporary global community. 

The month of January comes from the Roman calendar and is named for Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions, usually depicted with two heads facing in opposite directions, looking to the past and to the future.  January is the gate into the new year, but close enough that it looks back into the old year just past.  (The original Roman calendar had 10 months, and winter was considered a monthless period!  Take that, Winter!)

So months are both natural (lunar) and man-made (twelve named months). 

You can remember how many days each month has by the little poem, "Thirty days hath Sepember, April, June, and November, ..." but also by looking at the keys of a piano and counting off the months starting with January on F.  All the months which fall on the white notes have 31 days. 

This is the mug Matthew made for me a few years ago.  I am very particular about the shape and look of the mugs I drink my coffee and tea from.  There are only about three in our cupboard which are aesthetically acceptable, and two of them were made by Matt, and this is my favourite presently.