Supermoon

On Saturday, May 5th, I'm considered Super Moon!!  That day is also considered Lunar Beltane. In Celtic tradition, that is a night to celebrate new growth, the summer season, and the shedding away of winter. Heather wrote lots about this on her other blog http://pixiedusthealing.blogspot.ca/2012/05/super-moon-lunar-beltane.html

 I'm full on Saturday night so I'll be shinning down on you with a special glow for sure.

Because I'm Super Moon, that night, I'll be 50,000 km closer to you on earth than I am at other points in my orbit. That's the closest I get to you all year long.  You may think I look brighter on that night.

No matter how close or far away I am, I am always glowing down on you, thankful for your colors and happy to be your friend. And to me, you are all super heroes!

Sincerely,

Melvin Moon

Heather and I went to North Queens School in Caledonia last week.  She read my Thank You letter to grades Primary through 4. We talked about balloons, and colors, and most of all , about writing stories. Heather left students with some activities to do and balloons to color.

Our visit was part of the Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia, Writers In The Schools (WITS) program.  This is a great opportunity for schools to get financial support to bring in authors to talk to students and encourage reading and writing.  You can get more information about this program at http://www.writers.ns.ca/wits/

Heather read some manuscripts of stories that she hopes will some day be published like Melvin's Balloon's.  Sometimes a story sounds better in your head than it does to read it out loud.  It's always fun to try it out with friends!

Thanks for listening North Queens!

Sincerely,

Melvin Moon

Melvin Goes To Chester District School

Heather took me back to Chester District School the other day. Yippee!! I love going to Mrs. Griffith's class. She's my buddy. I went to her class last year too. http://melvinsballoons.blogspot.ca/2010/12/chester-district-school.html

Heather read my letter, Melvin's Balloons,  to the class. We  talked about writing and being an author.  We talked a lot about where story ideas come from.  There are some great stories in this classroom! Heather and I heard lots of fun ideas about balloons, pets, having super powers, and family adventures.  Some of the stories were about balloons and pets together!

Heather told the class that sometimes she just sees something that starts to feel like a story.  She has a story about a seagull she sees on the Ferry all the time. She is  thinking about a duck she sees these days that might not like swimming class.

It can be hard to get all those fast thoughts down your arm, through the pencil ,and onto the paper! That's why sometimes drawing pictures of your story first, or making a story board, helps. You can fill in the rest of the words and worry about spelling later. That way you might not get so frustrated and forget your ending!

Writing can be a lot of fun.  You can be whoever you want to be. You can do whatever you want to do. You can give a real life adventure a better ending!

Have fun with your writing adventures!

Sincerely,

Melvin Moon

Melvin's Garden

I was feeling a bit lonely over Christmas and New Year's. I was in my New Moon phase so people weren't seeing me so much.  Heather was busy with another book for adults  http://pixiedusthealing.blogspot.com/2011/12/its-here-sweet-shack-bach-bar.html and  wasn't paying that much attention to me.  Sometimes the winter feels long up here. Heather wrote a poem to me to cheer me up:

Sky Garden for Melvin

I grew a garden for Melvin Moon
I planted a perfect row of clouds
I planted a circle of stars
Right in the middle I planted moons
There was a New Moon, a Waxing Moon, a Waning Moon and a Full Moon
Out of the garden I hoped magic would blossom
I looked after my sky garden in the usual way
I watered the rows,
But the clouds drooped and fell over on their stems
I got the wind to blow softly on my garden,
But the stars floated away
I asked the sun to shin on my garden,
But the moons disappeared
I sat in my empty garden. I snuggled into the soil. I dug my fingers and toes into the earth. I closed my eyes
When I woke up my garden was alive and well and blossoming in the sky above.
Thanks to Melvin's Magic

I feel better now! You could draw my garden and color it in with lots of Chakra Colors. You could write me  a poem of your own!

Sincerely,

Melvin Moon

Activity # 6 Christmas Chakra Cookies

Activity # 6 Christmas Chakra Cookies

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Melvin wanted to get involved in some of the baking activities because they look like a lot of fun. Melvin decided to make Christmas Cookies with a Chakra twist.

Things you will Need:
For the Cookies
250ml (1 cup) butter
375ml (1.5 cup) sugar
2 eggs
750ml (3 cups) flour
10ml (2 tsp.) baking powder
1ml(1/4 tsp.) salt
5ml (1 tsp.) vanilla

For the "paint"
3 egg yolks
food coloring in the chakra colors
1 bowl for each color

How to Make the Cookies
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream (that means squish) the butter and sugar together. Stir in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla
3. Mix in the flour, baking powder and salt.
4. With your hands!, shape the dough into a ball, then roll it out until it's smooth, flat, and about 0.5cm thick
5. Use cookie cutters, or biscuit cutters (or the top of a round glass or cup) to cut out shapes.
6. Bake your cookies for 8-10 minutes.
7. When the cookies are still warm, poke a hole in any shapes that you want to hang on a tree or use as an ornament. Melvin got Heather to use a straw to make the holes in the ones in the picture.

How to Paint the Cookies
1. Get out 6 bowls (one for each chakra color except white).
2. Put 1 egg yolk in of 3 bowls, add 1ml (1/4 tsp) water to each bowl and stir.
3. Separate each of the yolks into another bowl. Now you should have 6 bowls that each have about half an egg yolk in them.
4. Put a drop or two of food coloring in each bowl to create the chakra colors.
5. Use a paint brush (if it's clean!), or a food brush to paint the colors onto the cookies.
6. Put the cookies back in the 350 oven for about 5 minutes to bake your paint.

Once the cookies are cooled you can put ribbon or yarn through the hole and hang them up. Or you can just eat whatever colors feel right to you! 

Melvin got Heather to make the sugar cookies, but you can buy already made cookies and decorate with the paint.  You can  also make the cookies ahead of time and store them in the freezer to paint when you are ready. Once they are painted just pop them in the oven for about 5 minutes. You can use unpainted cookies to be "white chakra cookies" or you can put a bit of white frosting on them. When the cookies are still warm you can add sprinkles and fancy food decorations as well.  Use your imagination!! Enjoy your colors!!

Asteroids

I think I'm going to have  pretty good view of the 2005 YU55 asteorid today! It's coming as close to me as another asteroid did in 1976.  I'm kind of glad that after tonight, I won't likely see another one of these things until 2028 according to scientists!

Scentists seem pretty excited about this asteroid. It's very dark and spining slowly and they think there is some carbon matter in it.  They are happy to be able to study it as it passes by.

I'm just glad I've got all your red balloons!!!   But if you felt like coloring a red balloon picture and putting it in your window for me tonight, or reading Melvin's Balloons before you go to bed,  that would be okay too. That will keep me from being scared and by Thursday I'll be full and glowing!

Sincerely,

Melvin Moon

Peaceful White Balloons

Wow, Halloween looked pretty wild and exciting for a lot of you guys down there.  I heard quite a bit of Halloween howling too! I noticed some of you had a tough time getting up and going to school and work this morning.

Heather has some Bach Flower suggestions for getting over Halloween candy and excitement. Check out her blog at http://pixiedusthealing.blogspot.com/2011/11/halloween-sugar-hangover-detox-with.html

This afternoon might be a good time to curl up with "Melvin's Balloons".  I'm sending peaceful white balloons down to you all. 

Sincerely,

Melvin Moon