I read earlier this year that the full moon names you commonly hear originate from First Nations tribes located around what is now the New England area.* Since these wouldn’t reflect my local season patterns, this year I am looking at the Cree moon names in comparison, to see if they more accurately reflect my local weather experience.

I had my doubts about this month – the Goose Moon, judging it to be a month too early for this far north, but lo and behold, what did I hear today but a pair of geese honking overhead! Another sighting at a small lake in another part of the city. The geese have indeed arrived this moon.

Ultimately I intend to create a set of moon names of my own, locally and culturally relevant.

This afternoon a chickadee fluttered up to a decorative birdhouse in our yard from the previous owners and peered inside clucking contentedly in a comfortable, at-home sort of way. I quickly chased the little one away and promptly took all three birdhouses down to prevent them from making a grave error in judgement – another year a chickadee family met with a disappointing fate in one of these decorative houses when a magpie found she could reach inside for a tidy meal…

As I took each house down, I noticed one of my own hairs dangling out one of the entrances.  I opened up the house with the previous year’s nest and found this cozy, soft, and downy nest tucked inside.

*I thought I read this on an Earthsky.org article from 2017, but can’t retrace my steps to it now…