Full Moon Fever

Alright, whether this is the Corn Moon (the name of the September Full Moon) or the Harvest Moon (which is the Full Moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox), it was lovely. It will be quite full tomorrow night as well so you may be seeing the Harvest/Corn Moon again later this week ;)

The clouds were pretty, too

Hunter's Moon

According to the Native Americans in the Great Lakes region, the October Full Moon, which rose yesterday evening, is known as the Hunter's Moon. It is so named because this is the month for hunting and storing for the long winter.

Personally, I've been storing all summer - in the form of freezing raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries - to help get through that long winter ;)

Happy Autumnal Equinox

This is the Super Harvest Moon. It was too cloudy at real moon rise to see the Super Harvest effect that apparently accompanies a full moon rising on the autumnal equinox. But I thought this was a pretty cool picture, too.

Wolf Moon over the Pacific

Although this LOOKS like the January Full Moon (known as the Wolf Moon) rising over Lake Michigan, it is actually the Wolf Moon rising over the Pacific. I got the opportunity to go to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico last week. This was taken on the last night during a whale watching cruise. The whales seem to wave good-bye.

Blue Moon in a Blue Sky

This is actually the day after the Blue Moon (second full moon in a calendar month). The moon was setting at this point but still bright enough to see clearly in the morning sky.

Colors of Autumn

Today's photo is a collection of the colors of Autumn from various places around Chicago. The one non-Chicago photo is the large tree with the moon, which is from the other side of Lake Michigan. But if you could see across the lake, you could probably see the Chicago skyline from St. Joseph, Michigan.

Click to enlarge photo

Clockwise from top left

Orange leaves in the water in Calumet Park, Yellow Gingko Leaf in Grant Park, Red Japanese Maple Tree in the North Center Neighborhood, Pink vine near 63rd Street Beach, Bare tree and moon near St. Joseph, Michigan, Rust leaves near Montrose Harbor

Seasonal Signs

All of a sudden (due to the time change) it is dark enough to see the moon rise when it does so at 4:18pm. Native Americans kept track of the seasons by, among other things, giving names to the full moons. The November Full Moon is called the Beaver Moon because it signaled that it was time to set beaver traps before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs.

I'm not into furs so if I were naming moons this one would be called The Flannel Sheets Moon as it signals the time to change over to the warmer, cozier flannel sheets.

Sunrise ... Moonrise

After several cloudy mornings and evening, it was finally clear for some sky photos.

Tuesday's Sunrise

Monday's Moonrise over Navy Pier

Theme Day: Night

Today is Theme Day on City Daily Photo. The theme, chosen by vote of the CDP participants is "Night".

This theme day has been a bit of a NIGHTmare.

It's not like I didn't have any night pictures.

• That one of the moon over the sailboats would have been good ... if I hadn't posted it back in the beginning of July.

• Any of the ones from the movies in the park (Sunset Blvd. and Duck Soup) would have worked quite well ... if I hadn't posted them in the last two weeks.

• The Bug Zapper one was at night and would have fit the theme ... if I hadn't posted it earlier this week.

Like this black-crowned NIGHT heron, I'm scratching my head and wondering what I was thinking posting those night scenes already. It's not like I haven't known the theme was Night since July 2. Duh!

So here is my Night photo.
That's not an anchor light on the top of the sail boat mast, it's the moon.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants - all of whom saved their good Night Shots for the Theme Day!

Catching the Moon

These two sailboat masts seemed, to me, to have captured the moon. The July Full Moon has many names:

• Full Buck Moon (since this is the month that new antlers on male deer start to appear)
• Full Thunder Moon (since this month has a lot of thunderstorms)
• Summer Moon
• Hay Moon
• Hungry Ghost Moon
• Crane Moon
• Ripe Corn Moon
• Mead Moon
• Moon of Claiming

One additional name for it is the Rose Moon. Pretty appropriate in this case since the light clouds give this moon a pink hue.


P.S. At 4:05 (and 6 seconds) today, it was 04:05:06 07/08/09.

Four Snow Moons

Four photos of the February Full Moon (also know as the Snow Moon).
as it rises over Lake Michigan and Lake Shore Drive

Crescent Moon and Venus, Too

Glanced up in the sky yesterday and saw the crescent Moon.
It looked like it was smiling or laughing.
(It must have seen the weather forecast that calls
for rising temperatures. This time of year the 30s are a heat wave.)
I figured that the tiny bright spot
toward the bottom of the picture was a planet.
I did a little searching and figured out it is Venus.

Four Wolf Moons

The first full moon of January is known as the Wolf Moon. The TV news said that last night's full moon would be the biggest and brightest since the moon is so close to the earth at this time of year. I really thought they said that about last month's full moon. I couldn't see the initial moon rise due to cloud cover at the horizon but when the moon got higher in the sky it was interesting to watch it emerge from clouds every so often. The picture with no clouds was actually taken at the same time as the rest. The difference is that I accidentally had the flash on so the "blue sky" is really the flash reflection of my window.

Moon over Chicago

Last night was a full moon. According to the news, the December full moon appears to be the largest due to the location of the earth to the moon. The sun was setting as the moon was rising so the moon gets a little pink coloring. There was some cloud cover right at the horizon, which obscured the "moon rise", but did lend some subtle pink to the sky, too.