Mooning

There's nothing like lying in the grass of your own backyard looking up at the rising Harvest Moon and all the stars and singing with your kids, while also dispelling worries about werewolves.  Which, by the way, all live in England, with Harry Potter.  

Sis even spotted the Rabbit in the moon, the Chinese version of the Man in the Moon.

And Bud and I danced while I sang "Blue Moon" and Sis half-mooned me.  Right out of Grease.

Perfect.

(Of course, I also managed a short lecture on some of the history of nighttime a la the book I'm reading by Ekirch, At Day's Close, especially about how it's called the Harvest Moon because farmers would stay up all night working by the light of it to get the crops in.  Also info about how people used to be more attuned to moon phases for navigation on land and sea.  We even managed to read a tiny bit in the moonlight.  To be fair, the kids then lectured me about different kinds of stars!)

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Amazing how many songs about the Moon I can recall (I know several about the Sun, too):

Under the full moonlight, we dance
Spirits dance; we dance.
Joining hands, we dance.
Joining souls, rejoice!

Sister Moon, Sister Moon
You're out too soon
The sun is high in the sky
Go back to bed
Cover up your head
And wait for the day to go bye-bye-bye
Wait for the day to go bye

I see the Moon,

the Moon sees me,

I smile at the moon,

And she smiles at me.

The man in the moon,
Looked out of the moon
Looked out of the moon and said,
“It’s time for all the children on earth
To think about getting to bed!”

And the one I sang to the kids a lot, Laurie Berkner's "Moon, Moon, Moon":

Moon moon moon, shining bright
Moon moon moon, my nightlight
(Chick! Turn it on!)
Moon moon moon, I can see
Moon moon moon, you’re taking care of me

Moon moon moon, shining bright
Moon moon moon, my nightlight
(Chick!)
Moon moon moon, I can see
Moon moon moon, you’re taking care of me

Look up, it’s the moon
Look up, it’s the moon
Look up it’s the moon up in the sky
It’s big and round and I have found
That it looks just like a pizza pie 

Moon moon moon, shining bright
Moon moon moon, my nightlight
(Chick!)
Moon moon moon, I can see
Moon moon moon, you’re taking care of me

Look up, it’s the moon
Look up, it’s the moon
Look up it’s the moon up in the sky
It’s big and round and I have found
That it looks just like a lemon pie

Plus "Blue Moon,"  "Moon River," "Bad Moon Rising," Blue Moon of Kentucky," "By the Light of the Silvery Moon," "Can't Fight the Moonlight," "Aikendrum," "Claire du Lune," Moonlight Sonata, and, of course, "Arthur's Theme" ("If you get caught between the moon and New York City . . . "  (See here and here--this one from NASA!--for many more.)