“Fly Me to the Moon”

When I think of the moon, the first thing that comes to mind is the song “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra. Though I’m not a Frank Sinatra fan, I grew up listening to his songs every Sunday as the 33 RPM vinyl LPs dropped, one at a time, on the stereo spindle. Ol’ Blue Eyes was interspersed between Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline and Hank Williams, Sr., my folks’ personal favorites.

I’m sure I’m not the only person whose parents parted the curtains so their kids could peer out the window at the full moon. I was told if I squinted really hard, I could probably see the Man in the Moon looking back at me. I squinted, but didn’t see anything. I even waved, but he never waved back, like the friendly conductor in the little red caboose whenever we got stopped at the railroad tracks going to my grandmother’s house.

So, I guess as a kid I didn’t buy into the Man in the Moon story – did you?

But, fifty years ago today, I was sitting there, parked in front of the television as the culmination of the Apollo 11 space mission was displayed for everyone to see. I am sure if someone had a camera, our mouths were open in an “O” shape as we stared in wonderment as Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface and uttered those now-famous words: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

So, you want to be a millionaire, eh?

My parents read the daily newspaper cover to cover back in the day, and when we had all perused the story and pictures heralding this monumental mission, my mom handed me the front page of the newspaper and said “put this newspaper in your desk and hold onto it – one day this will be worth something!”

Being the dutiful child that I was, I did just that, tucked it into my desk, and, because I was so much more organized in those days, I know exactly where it is today … top pull-out drawer, underneath a plastic tray that holds pencils, erasers, paper clips, maybe even a protractor and compass from circa 1969 – yup, that is where it has been for fifty years minus one day.

I decided I was going to get that newspaper out and take a photo of the front page for this post, then return it to its safe spot once again, only I didn’t factor in that back in 2017 when I cleaned the basement after the insulation job, I pushed a wall of blue Rubbermaid totes in front of the desk and a heavy coat rack in front of the totes. Oops!

Nope, I wasn’t going to move all that – no way. Maybe for the 75th anniversary of the moon landing.

In the meantime, I decided to Google around to find the same picture featured on the front page of “The Detroit News” on July 21, 1969. My search took me to eBay where not only the July 21st newspaper was featured, but also the special edition and a local paper moon event special as well. Bidding started at $29.99.

Hmm – so much for being a millionaire!

So, I continued my search to find that elusive front page of “The Detroit News” … here you see it on July 21, 1969, both above the fold and below the fold.

[I gleaned these reproductions from “The Detroit News”.]

Moon pies and mishaps.

I was at Meijer a few months ago and a display of Oreo cookies honoring the 50th anniversary of the moon landing caught my eye. It was a smaller-than-average package and had glow-in-the-dark stickers which you see in the header image above. I decided I should have this treat “for the cause” so I bought them and put them away, intending to enjoy them today with Tang, er … a tall glass of cold milk.

Unfortunately, the day I smashed my finger in the garage door, the “cause” became immediate, and, in a moment of frustration, I slit open the package and ate them left-handed as I held my throbbing ring finger on my right hand above my head, cradled inside a bag of frozen berries.

Funny, but the Oreos didn’t make my finger feel any better and they were marshmallow, kind of resembling a Moon pie, not the traditional white cream … if you’re a purist about your Oreos, you know what I mean. Also, the marshmallow inside the Oreos was purple, just like my finger.

The way I figure it, the moon and stars are not aligned at this house …

First, the garage door spring went wonky, then the new garage door held my finger hostage where the panels go together for a brief second, then the other day a simple Windows update caused my computer to have a meltdown and I’m still putting Humpty back together again. Hopefully normalcy may prevail soon.

The Kennedy Space Center.

I looked back in my online photos albums I scanned in a few years ago to see if I had any pictures from a family trip to Florida in 1972 where we stopped at the Kennedy Space Center. I was sure we had a family photo posed there, but all I had was this space capsule.

“The Eagle has Landed!!”

Before the historic steps on the lunar surface, Neil Armstrong announced that they had touched down on the moon by saying “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

You will notice that this post is devoid of any nature pictures – that is because I will slip in a post called “The Eagle has Landed” by fellow blogger Wayne of Tofino Photography. You can enjoy some beautiful moon and eagles of the feathered variety by clicking here.