Shine On Harvest Moon

I decided to take a bit of a trip to the top of the west hills to see if I could get a photo of the sunset and then the moonrise. I made the sunset perfectly, but by the time I came over the top of the west hills, I could see that the "Harvest Moon" had been up for a bit of time (even though my sources said 7:11PM). Oh well, I still got some nice shots and didn't realize that the St. John's Bridge would also be in the line of sight.

Maybe you are wondering about the Harvest Moon, and how it got it's name. According to some online sources, How did the Harvest Moon get its name? The shorter-than-usual time between moonrises around the full Harvest Moon means no long period of darkness between sunset and moonrise for days in succession. In the days before tractor lights, the lamp of the Harvest Moon helped farmers to gather their crops, despite the diminishing daylight hours. As the sun’s light faded in the west, the moon would soon rise in the east to illuminate the fields throughout the night.

Who named the Harvest Moon? That name probably sprang to the lips of farmers throughout the Northern Hemisphere, on autumn evenings, as the Harvest Moon aided in bringing in the crops. The name was popularized in the early 20th century by the song below.
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Shine On Harvest Moon
By Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth (1903)

Shine on, shine on harvest moon
Up in the sky,
I ain’t had no lovin’
Since January, February, June or July
Snow time ain’t no time to stay
Outdoors and spoon,
So shine on, shine on harvest moon,
For me and my gal.

For more photos of the moonset early this morning, and the moonrise tonight (and a sunset), visit my FLICKR page.

And a special thanks to the kind fellow who didn't mind that I was parking on his private drive, and even offered to let me use his deck to get a more unobstructed view......people are so nice:))))