Recently I’ve seen some amazing night skies as I’ve ran up the hill from Granny’s after dark. The frigid temperatures make me want to hurry but the startling beauty of the stars and moon have me stopping every few feet just to gawk at the heavens above me.
The other night I saw a ring around the moon. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one. If I have the memory has long since fallen through the cracks of the floor of my brain.
You might have heard the old weather folklore: ring around the moon, rain or snow soon. I think I learned that from Jim Casada. He shares a ton of weather sayings in his books and other writings.
There are rumors we might have snow this weekend, so the old saying might be foretelling it.
I’ll not hold my breath for snow, but I will continue to enjoy the wonder of a cold winter sky in Wilson Holler as I scurry back and forth to Granny’s.
Last night’s video: Our Chickens.
Tipper
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Praying for you and your family.
According to the news station we watch (channel 9 out of Chattanooga) it looks like the chances of snow are really good in your area. We are supposed to only get 1-2 inches here in Athens, TN.
Tipper,
I am glad you were able to be with Granny and help in her care. Please give her a hug for us.
This afternoon as we were going to town for dinner (slid all the way down our driveway and had to walk back up the hill very slowly) we saw what I call a rainbow in the sky. It is really a sun dog. It was so beautiful with the yellow, blue, and purple colors. When I see beautiful things like this in the sky I know that this is a sign from God that he is watching over us and things will be okay. Charles has a biopsy tomorrow at the urologist and deep down I know it will be okay. Take care and lots of love,
Kathy Patterson
I’ve always heard the number of stars within the ring indicate how many days away of the precipitation.
Mama always said “ring around the moon means rain.” We have had some beautiful sunsets lately. They’re predicting snow for Richmond, Virginia and the surrounding areas. We still have loads of ice, and we don’t need snow on top of it. I hope you get your snow, Tipper, but no ice.
Southwest Virginia also has plenty of ice. I pray that we keep power in this frigid cold. We don’t have a wood stove and it is already very cold in our old farmhouse. I will be praying for Richmond.
I learned a lot today with this post. Kinda glad I’m posting late. Your picture is thought-provoking. It reminds me of A picture taken from the Webb space telescope of something named “The Eye of God”. I like at your picture and am reminded of Hagar’s words in Genesis, “Thou God, seest me.” Indeed He does and it is so good to know it and feel comforted by it. He saw you on the road home but better still He knows you as no-one else ever has or ever could. He treasures you for yourself, as He does every soul that He has made.
Always heard ring around the moon meant snow was on the way. Our ice and snow are not melting from last weekend end. So staying on the ground waiting for more. Then there was the thunder during the snow last weekend as well. I’d say those are three good signs my grandparents would have said would have usurped the weather channel! for NC to be getting snow.
Every weather forecast I heard yesterday and today is predicting that NC will get a historic snowstorm this weekend, more than has been seen in decades. Yeehaw! Some snow cream might be just what Granny is craving.
I guess the experts have put me in my place. Again!
What a beautiful picture! I don’t think I have ever seen anything like that before. It seems like in any situation we can always find something positive or beautiful to take our minds off the troubles of life if but only for a moment. Praying for all of you.
All of this talk about the moon and stars makes wonder how many of the ones that have lived their entire lives in cities, especially the big cities with all of the night lights, can truly understand the beauty of the stars and moon on a cold clear pitch dark night away from the lights of the cities. Thank God, I have lived my entire life where there is very little artificial light during the night. I wouldn’t trade for any amount of money, I would just spend the money!
Beautiful picture of the moon. Wind chill here put it below zero so I would not want to be outside right now.
Watched Matt’s video last night on the big television and I must say Matt you did an A+ job of filming and explaining where you were on the hill and the chickens. Looks like those three have a pretty big place. You did a great job!! Prayers for you all and for Granny’s comfort.
Good FRIGID BUT SUNNY morning, Tipper! I’ve greatly enjoyed everybody’s “two cents worth” this morning and all the sayings on how to predict more snow, etc. Now I think RANDY is on to something BIG when he said “the white or icy stuff lays around for 3 days a’ hardly budging.” I’m adding that one to my own sayings I believe. I ain’t too proud to steal y’all’s sayings and ideas. I’ve enjoyed watching the sun gleam on the icy trees. It’s like diamonds and some are blue when the light is right. I’ve enjoyed watching the birds come to the feeder and the grackles eat bread out of the yard. I miss the school buses running in the morning and evening. It’s become a highlight of my day and time teller too. I’m not going out at night on the ice cause Lord knows I’d break something I might need and a HORSE PISTOL ain’t no place for me-they might try to sneak a shot in on me for a permanent cure to my temporary issues… That moon looks amazing, Tipper. I’m sure it made your whole day come to a beautiful end knowing the Lord has got THIS thing and he’s holding your little hand all the way… God s blessings and peace rest on you all especially Granny. THE ONLY THE THINGS WE TAKE WITH US WHEN WE LEAVE IS WHAT WE GAVE AWAY!!!! -Taken from Its a Wonderful Life…
I’ve always heard that a ring around the moon portended snow and that the number of stars counted inside that ring was the number of days until it fell. Now, I am no Jim Casada so if my memories conflict with his, then I acquiesce.
Lady Moon is a poem me and my children love and have memorized. Whenever we see a beautiful moon it comes to mind. It is by Richard Monckton Milnes.
❤️thank you for the beautiful moon photo. Praying for y’all!
“Lady Moon, Lady Moon, where are you roving?”
“Over the sea.”
“Lady Moon, Lady Moon, whom are you loving?”
“All that love me.”
“Are you not tired with rolling and never
Resting to sleep?
Why look so pale and so sad, as for ever
Wishing to weep?”
“Ask me not this, little child, if you love me;
You are too bold
I must obey my dear Father above me,
And do as I’m told.”
“Lady Moon, Lady Moon, where are you roving?”
“Over the sea.”
“Lady Moon, Lady Moon, whom are you loving?”
“All that love me.”
Meg, Love the poem! Thank you 🙂
Meg–Thanks ever so much for sharing this. I really liked the poem, with which I was unfamiliar, and it reveals a sentimental side of Lord Houghton (as Monckton Milnes became) new to me. In truth, I knew of him primarily as the man who was a close friend of the noted linguist and explorer, Sir Richard Burton, and had perhaps the largest collection of erotic literature in existence at the time. That’s how he and Burton became acquainted.
I’ve written extensively on Burton, including a book and multiple articles, although I better hasten to make it clear my primary interest in him was his activities as an explorer in Africa and elsewhere as opposed to his overweening inclination to dig into unusual sexual customs and strange ethnographic paths. Of all places though, Tipper’s blog would have been about the last one where I would expect to run across mention of Lord Houghton. Just shows how much there is to learn and sometimes from the most unexpected of sources. Anyway, thanks, and I hope others will forgive me for this latest of my constant runs down side trails to rabbit holes.
Tipper that picture of the moon is beautiful! Thank you for sharing it with us. I’m like you in this way, as I take my dogs out at nights gut I look up at the sky to look at the moon and stars. It seems the colder it is the more stars I can see. Not sure why, but it seems that way. Every time I marvel at how beautiful the many stars are I think about the scripture in Genesis where God tells Abram to look up and see the stars for as many stars he could possibly count are the numbers of his descendants. That scripture also reminds me in Deuteronomy God says His promises to Abraham are for a thousand generations. We who believe in Christ Jesus are among those generations. No matter how cold it is or even in summer how hot, I love looking at the stars because those same stars are the very same stars that God showed Abram. Man can change the landscapes of this earth, but man can’t change the stars God hung in the night sky. For this I am grateful to God for the blessing of the seeing His stars.
Just make sure that that phenomenon shows up in a picture when you photograph it, or you may have problems like cataracts. I’m only half in jest here. I was operated on within the past year for cataracts, both eyes, and now, don’t even need glasses for the most part.
When Theodore Roosevelt died in his sleep at age 60 after never really having recovered from malaria and a gunshot wound, his family said that death had to sneak up on him since he was such a fighter. Somehow I get that same feeling with Granny.
I have had cataract surgery on both my eyes two years ago. After wearing glasses since I was 15 years old for distant vision, it has completely flopped around, I don’t need glasses to see at a distance but can no longer see close up. I couldn’t see paying the extra out of pocket thousands of dollars that would let me do both, I just bought me several pairs of reading glasses at Dollar Tree for $1.25. Now my eyes are very sensitive to light, I no longer drive at night. Speaking for myself, cataract surgery is the nearest nothing , filling a tooth is worse, putting the drops in your eyes after the surgery was the worse part. One drop from a thumb size bottle. These drops cost $400 unless you had a coupon, then they were $100. One drop was suppose to take the place of 3 drops of some other drops.
Don
God bless you all. Praying for Granny’s comfort.
Conditions are coming together to make weather history in Florida. I, for one, am not thrilled with the predictions of hard freezes, high wind, and snow flurries. I thought I had left serious winter weather behind in SC when moving back to FL, where my wife and two children were born.
It’s been so unbearably cold here that I haven’t enjoyed a nocturnal walk for a while. I feel there’s nothing more beautiful and awe inspiring than a clear nighttime sky. It’s fills me with a sense of calm and I feel surrounded by my family and friends that have passed as I look up at those twinkling stars. I knew the exact feeling you were talking about the other day as you told the story of needing to climb that mountain, taking your toddlers with you, for that feeling you knew would be waiting for you at the top. In these uncertain times (for multitudes of reasons) it’s so comforting to know that nature is still waiting to wrap us in a warm blanket of comfort. Sometimes I repeat “just breath” until comes over me. Tipper, I thank you for your continued prayers♡ I’m so touched that you take the time to respond, personally because I can only imagine how busy you are. Not many celebrities (& yes, you are!!! in this caring community of acorns♡) would take the time. You were meant to be on this platform so we could all channel our love and prayers to Granny. Thank you for sharing her with us. Just wish I’d found my way here sooner.
This is so special that you got to see this, Tipper. In the North, this is a more common occurrence, of course, because we are so much colder here. I feel God just wanted to lift your spirits and show you a piece of beauty in the midst of the hard road you are all walking. In the summer, we call the rings around the sun, “dog sun” or “sun dogs.” In the winter I think it’s called a moon rainbow. I pray you get some peaceful and beautiful snow this weekend to blanket your hearts and bring fresh beauty during this heavy time. Our hearts are with you and the entire family and many are carrying you close in mind and prayer. Lamentations 3:22-23 “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
Wonderful picture. Prayers for your family and comfort for Granny.
the sky has many truths steeped in folklore
in significant times we notice the beauty of it more
love 2 all of you
I look forward to your posts every day, I read them as I have my morning coffee.
Sending prayers for Granny, you and your family.
God bless you all. I pray Granny isn’t suffering. The comfort of having you all around her must soothe her. Love you all. My cousin went to sleep and never woke. 59 and healthy. Heart gave up. So much snow we’re waiting on the cemetery.
It is 5 degrees this morning. I have noticed the night skies lately too. I haven’t traveled out in this cold much at night, but I like to go out on the porch and look up for a few minutes. The stars are extra bright lately…or the sky is extra dark. Either way, it is a beautiful and wondrous sight. My brother lives near the coast on the eastern side of North Carolina, and he told me they have 5-6 inches of snow predicted for Saturday. That would be a sight to see for sure. Maybe you really will get a sledding snow…Crossing my fingers and toes for you!
My Mommaw said to count the stars inside the ring and that would be the number of days until bad weather came. I have done this before and it would usually work out.
Good Morning Tipper, Matt and Acorns. TY for the chicken video. It was fun meeting your other “girls.” They are so pretty. Dominique chickens are believed to be America’s first established chicken breed. Astronomy class in college taught us about moon halos. Halos around the moon are caused by moonlight refracting (bending) through tiny, hexagonal ice crystals in high-altitude cirrus clouds, acting like miniature prisms to bend the light at a specific 22-degree angle, creating a bright ring of light. These halos often signal approaching weather changes, as they indicate moisture and cirrus clouds, which typically precede rain or snow. The folklore is correct in it’s prediction. I hope you get more than a skiff this Friday night/Saturday morning. I keep everyone here and up Wilson Hollow in my prayers. L lov y’all.
Thank you for that explanation, Barbara. My 8th grade teacher, Mrs. Pennel, taught us some of that.
Oh, what a beautiful sight! I’ve never seen anything like that before.
Prayers on their way for Granny & the entire family. What a blessing it must be to her to have the entire family making sure she is comfortable these days. Our kind & gentle God is watching over her.
Some of my Canadian friends call rings around the sun “sun dogs.” The ring around the moon looks like a halo. A side story about watching the night sky. When I lived in Hawaii each summer I would take the high school Sunday school students to the big island of Hawaii for their summer retreat. One summer night I took the kids out to a pasture where they could my down on the grass and look up at the night sky. We were looking for the yearly meteor shower. As the kids were waiting for the shower to begin several of the youth started screaming. I asked what wad wrong. They said the ground wad shaking and that scared them. I explained to them that the earth shaking was a result of the active volcano on the island. If anyone had felt a mild earth quake then imagine one right after the other. The explanation did not ease their worries so we returned to our house. Later that week we took the youth down to the ocean where the lava was flowing into the water. Truly amazing. Seeing land being born. You could hear the scream of the lava as it shout out into the water. God’s beautiful creation. The youth liked at the lava and went back to the bus while us old folks just stared at God’s creation. Praying for Granny.
To me “sun dogs” are bright spots on either side of the sun at about a 22½º angle. They, like moon rings are caused by light reflecting off ice crystals high up in the atmosphere. Ice high up in the atmosphere often means precipitation at ground level. Both phenomena are seen when the humidity at ground level is low otherwise they are obscured.
If you look up in the sky and see an unusually bright spot there is a good possibility you are looking at a “sun dog”. Look toward the opposite side of the sun at about a 22½º angle from it and if you see a similar spot then you are definitely seeing “sun dogs.”
I’ve never been to Canada but I imagine what they are seeing is the same as I am.
I’ve heard that when the moon has a ring (or halo) it is a sign of divine protection … and I’m guessing it’s for Evelyn Louzine Jenkins Wilson – Sweet Sweet Granny! You’re in my prayers honey! God Bless You!
What a beautiful sentiment ❤️
<3
Dearest Friend, your comments about the night sky brought back wonderful memories of my childhood. From the time I was old enough to understand, my Dad would point me to the skys…day or night…clear or stormy..rain or snow…but especially the night sky. And this time of year the night sky is BREATHTAKING!! I live where there are no lights to interfere with the glory that is the night sky. And at 78,soon 79, I am still amazed at its splendor.Dad taught me about the planets and the constellations. He also taught me about the storms. And helped me not to fear the dark.
Your posts always bring back precious memories to me.
I pray for you as I understand this time that you are facing with your Sweet Mother. I’ve been there.i pray that the peace and comfort of our Precious Jesus will surround you and your Dear Family . I feel a deep connection to you. We may never meet again (I met you in Knoxville) but we will meet one day at The Masters Feet.
Much Love and prayers for you all!!!
I’ve always heard it means snow is coming if it’s wintertime. It looks like y’all are in the path for it. We are expecting another 2 inches on top of our 13″-16″. The cold is just brutal.
Tipper, I’ve been drinking your golden milk and truly love it. I can’t really have coffee due to a couple of health issues and hot chocolate is good, but pretty sweet. Golden milk hits the mark for me. So glad you shared the recipe.
Keeping y’all in my prayers. Cancer is a terrible thing. My cousin is holding his own. I got word a couple of days ago our friend was diagnosed with prostate cancer and it looks unfavorable and my brother in law is awaiting his diagnosis on Monday for lymphoma. My husband battled melanoma 10 years ago and boy it was terrible. He is doing well now which is a miracle. We must live our best lives each day the best we can. I pray everyone is safe, warm, and fed. May the Lord bless all y’all!
that is a gorgeous picture of the moon….here in Oklahoma we had alot of snow but before it started snowing the maintenance man here at the complex where I live put salt down on all the sidewalks and our porches so I knew the snow would have to get deep enough to avoid collecting salty snow for any ice cream I would make—but before I could step out my door to get snow my neighbor was out there sweeping it all away from our porch/patio area and the extending sidewalk virtually rendering it impossible for me to walk to any close areas for scooping up snow to make snow cream or even a glass worth to pour a coke over (having a home made icee). My sister posted a video of her making snow cream for her family and I thought how nice she had no maintenance man to salt her porch and no neighbor to brush all the snow away — she just stepped outside and gathered the amount of snow she needed. (laughingly I have to add that this same neighbor of mine goes out when it rains and sweeps our shared porch/patio area and sidewalk–I do not know why, it is just a bit of an obsession for her. You should see her flowerbed, only a few things growing and not one blade of grass or weed anywhere just dirt….mine however does not look like hers, it has flowers grass and weeds and you can not see any dirt when it is in full blown growing season lol) praying for Granny to become pain free, comfortable and an easy step into glory to be with Jesus when her time comes….she certainly is setting a good example for everyone by choosing the time when she will medicate herself or begin to allow others to tend to her (hospice/palliative care) she is definitely a ‘tough ole bird’..my mom basically did the same thing so I know first hand it is not an easy thing to watch happen to your mom, but I am proud you three siblings are not pushing her to do something she is against for the time being. My heart breaks for all of you as yall walk this road and am praying for her and everyone continually. Hope you get enough snow to sled, if we lived closer I would tell you to come on over and sled to your hearts content.
I don’t like being outside in the dark so I would have missed seeing the ring around the moon. That was so special!
Praying for your mama and for your family! God bless
God bless Granny, God bless her family
Many prayers for Granny and the family.
Wow Tipper!
I’d stop in my tracks too if I’d witnessed that gorgeous sight shown from above. For a few fleeting moments, the bone chilling temperature was not felt…then bam, off you scurry 🙂 Granny’s failing condition is on my mind daily & puts an ache in my heart. Please give her a gentle hug from someone that has come to care & love her dearly.
With Love from,
Deb in WV
Tipper, I just googled ring around the moon and you are correct, it is said to be a prediction of either rain or snow. I have also looked at the latest radar screen with the predicted snow amounts for this weekend, 1-2 in. Atlanta, 2-4 in. Greenville, SC, then more and more eastward on into NC. I am as much concerned about the continuous below normal cold temperatures we have been having or are forecast to continue into at least next week. My memory has gullies in it, not cracks but it seems like it has been many years since we had a cold spell to last this long. My Grandaddy would predict bad weather by watching his chickens and the birds. He was about as accurate as today’s weathermen with all of their modern day equipment. Another sign for snow- some of the sleet/snow mix from last weekend still laying around for more than 3 days waiting on more.
Keep me in mind today, just as I was going to bed last night, I received word that a dear friend and coworker had suddenly pass away yesterday morning. It is weighing heavily on my mind. Two more longtime coworkers died at the first of the week, now at my age it sometimes seems like it is almost an everyday thing to hear of another friend dying. Can’t help but wonder how long before it’s my time. All of them were around my age.
Randy, I’m sorry. I will pray for you all.
Randy, I am so sorry to hear you lost more of your close friends over the years. My mom (who will be 71 this year), is in this era, of losing friends and close loved ones, and she told me she markedly remembers her parents being in that phase of life, too, where they had funerals nearly every week. My grandpa died from a massive heart attack at the age of 76 and my grandma lived to be 89. They had 18 children and my mom was right smack in the middle as child number 9. The stories from their childhood are always so fun to listen to. They were a large farming family. Anyway, I am sorry I got off track. I will be thinking about you today and praying for comfort for your heart as you face another loss. God bless you, Randy.
Allie, I will be 72 on the 20th of February. I remember my father in law saying to me when he was about this age, you know you are old when you have as many lifelong friends underground as you do above ground. I think that is very true. I think God has blessed me with a countless number of friends through out my lifetime.
You do seem to have a lot of close and meaningful friendships and familial lifelong relationships! That is one thing I really admire about Appalachia. The very strong roots and sense of place; people who have known each other their entire lives and have very intimate and deep relationships. I think this is a lot different than the North and I greatly admire it (and if I’m truly honest, somewhat envy it). I hope to forge this kind of lifelong closeness in my own family. I really enjoy reading your daily comments, Randy. Thank you for sharing your life with us! How many years have you faithfully participated in the BPA blog? I was reading some old posts recently and was amazed to see how many years several of you Acorns have been commenting and posting daily. What a wonderful community there is here!
Allie, I really don’t know, I think it was before my wife died. She will be dead 5 years this year come April. We started “going together” when teenagers, married 19 and 20 years . God blessed me to have had her for 49 and a half years. As you said I have know many of the ones in my neck of the woods all of my life. I grew up in church with my wife, along with all of her maternal and paternal families. I loved and enjoyed all of them. I talked with her cousin this morning, he told me I was like a brother to him, I feel like he is a brother to me I never had. As a young boy, I thought the world of her paternal grandfather, I called him Mr. Joe, he always had a kind world to say to us youngsters. Some other time I will tell a story about him, my mother, grandaddy and me and a dry cotton stalk when picking cotton for him. Let’s just say it was not so funny to me but I have remembered it all of my life.
I look forward to that story someday, Randy. 🙂
It is truly amazing that you grew up in the same church as your wife and her family on both sides. What a gift. I am so sorry you lost her.