Pennies and the Moon

Gym, Joe's, Costco, recycling, Safeway. That kept me busy for the first half of the day. It was enough. The day was sunny and bright, not bad out, but if you were in the shade, there was a chill in the air. Nothing like my friends in Calgary had this morning, when they had a bit of springtime snow waiting for them. Nope, I'll gladly take the rain out here on the coast before the snow I was so used to before. I spent the latter part of the day browsing the internet, and checking out the latest from the Canada Mint. It's not surprising that so many countries look to Canada to have their special coins minted. They do such a wonderful job with practically everything.

Speaking of the mint, they issued the last Canadian penny this week. They tell us the cost to produce one exceeds the value of the coin itself, and by ceasing production, it will save approximately $11 million per year. It will be interesting to see how businesses set their prices later one, when the new 'rounding' system takes affect. Bet we'll see a lot more prices ending in 3, 4, 8, or 9 (because we round up), than 1, 2, 6, 7 (where we round down). I think I'll hold onto my pennies for a while and carry a few in my pocket when they start. I'll pay the extra when it's a 'round up' situation, but take the discount when it's a 'round down' one.

This evening we were expecting a 'Super Moon', a full moon when the moon is closest to the earth. It was to arrive on the west coast at 20h35, so we got out our cameras and iPhones, ready to take pictures. Tick, tick, tick...it finally appeared above the downtown skyline about 45 minutes late. Well, late because we couldn't see the horizon for the buildings. And because of this, we didn't get the full effect of the so called 'super moon'. It was big, but when you see it rise over the horizon, like I used to see on the prairies, it is so much bigger, and depending on the atmospheric conditions, the colour can be incredible. But out here, we saw a bit of colour at the start, but as I look at it now,  it's still fairly large in the sky, but the more common white, except where the darker spots of the moon appear. You could almost see the craters earlier, and with the binoculars, you could. It is still an impressive sight to behold.