IWSG, A Total Eclipse of Green Cheese, Quotes and Being Thankful

Posting the First Wednesday of every month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.

Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts:   Janet Alcorn, T. Powell Coltrin, Natalie Aguirre, and Pat Garcia!

This month's question is: How long have you been blogging? (Or on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram?) What do you like about it and how has it changed?

I'm not sure how long I've been blogging, maybe since around 2003/04? My earliest posts, where I tentatively put my big toe in the internet waters, seem to have disappeared. So, I can only go back as far as April 19, 2008.  Blogging introduced me to many people in the writing world and I am every so grateful to all of them. I used to blog almost every day, then it was three times a week, then once a week. Now it's once a month. And, I feel guilty for not visiting other blogs like I used to. My excuse is that I'm always at work on the first Wednesday so by the time I'm off on Friday I'm so distracted with other things that I don't get around to visiting visiting! That's not very nice of me when there are several of you who keep coming back to read my wandering words. 

As for Facebook, I think I've been on since around 2015, maybe earlier, but I don't really know, nor do I know how to find out. For me FB has been a needed place to keep in touch with my family and friends in the Caribbean, particularly after hurricanes. Lots of valuable and needed information has been able to be shared and for that reason, I stay on board. FB has gotten very political (I'm guilty of adding to it) and I'm dismayed at the amount of mis and disinformation that get's posted, but I'm also inspired by the many uplifting memes and stories.

I was on Twitter/X for a  while, but I never did get the hang of it or how to use it or figure what good it was for. So, when I heard Musk was going to buy it, I deleted my account.

Origins: is a recurring post in which I delve into the history of a word or phrase.

Today's phrase is: The Moon is Made of Green Cheese

Not really a phrase... but there's a reason for choosing this descriptor of the moon.

A HUGE BIG DEAL is going to happen here in my small town. 

We are GROUND ZERO for the TOTAL ECLIPSE the universe has scheduled for Monday, the 8th. A mere 5 days away! We are starting to see an influx of traffic. NASA is already here as we will have about the longest time in the dark, 4 minutes and 24 second. Realize the total population of the town and county is about 53,000.  No one has been able to give us a reasonable estimate on the number of people that will be descending upon us, but it's anywhere from 150,000 to 500,000! We are excited and holding our breath at the same time. How will our infrastructure and facilities hold up? The "Authorities" say they aren't concerned about the people who have made plans well in advance -- hotels, motels, B&Bs etc. have long been booked with a minimum 3 to 4 night stay. But they ARE concerned about the day trippers who think they'll just be able to get on Interstate 10, Texas 27 or Texas 16 to come watch the sun disappear. The people who haven't planned are the ones who will cause the worst of the traffic jams; they might run out of gas, not have enough water and food on hand, and will be difficult to reach if there's an emergency. It could take anywhere from 5 to 8 HOURS on I10 to get from here to San Antonio a mere 60 miles away. No heavy trucks or semis will be allowed to travel on the 8th in more the 80 counties. Interstate 10 will have one lane closed in both both directions, a distance of about 100 miles -- we're in the middle of that -- to allow people to park and watch the event. 

We will be staying put at home.

I'd like to say I'll be posting pictures on Facebook the day of, but the Authorities have warned us that cell and internet connectivity will likely be non-existent for the day because we only have 4 cell towers and they'll quickly be overloaded.  However, those of us with Spectrum and WiFi, may be ok. 

All that said, I'm excited as I've never experienced a total eclipse.

Now on to the curious idea of the Moon as Cheese

Since the moon is going to be covering the sun I thought the idea would be interesting to explore.

Thinking the moon is made of cheese is an old metaphor used by many nationalities in folktales to describes a simpleton who, upon seeing the moon reflecting in water, believes it is a wheel of cheese. The general population never actually believed the moon was made of cheese let alone green cheese -- which is newly made, unaged cheese.  As early as the 1520s, it has been considered an example of...to put it bluntly...stupidity to think it was.

Fables, proverbs, and children's stories about the moon reflected in water and thought to be edible can be found in Slavic, Turkish, Jewish, Zulu, French, Scottish, and English cultures. It was interesting to discover that a fox or wolf, or in the case of the Zulu story, a hyena, was often involved.

Quotes of the Month

 "In other words, if a decision-maker thinks something cannot be true and interprets this to mean it has zero probability, he will never be influenced by any data, which is surely absurd. So leave a little probability for the moon being made of green cheese; it can be as small as 1 in a million, but have it there since otherwise an army of astronauts returning with samples of the said cheese will leave you unmoved." Dennis Lindley

"If I tell you there's cheese on the moon, bring the crackers." Tyronn Lu

Being Thankful

Today I'm obviously thankful for the opportunity to watch a total solar eclipse.

We pray for clear skies, 

particularly since there is currently a 50% chance of rain for Sunday and Monday.

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How long have you been blogging, or been on Facebook/Twitter etc.? Have you ever seen a total eclipse? (I've seen several partials). Would you/have you traveled to see a total eclipse?