Going to Bed With Red

It’s called a blue moon ‘cause it’s the second full moon in the same calendar month. It’s not however, a blue moon by the older definition, which was the fourth full moon in the same calendar quarter, or three-month season. That would make it more of a challenge—something that might happen only once in a blue moon.

And this second moon of August is called the Full Red Moon, so that should clear things up a bit. Oh my.

Trolling through the moon info that’s available these days, the best, and most logical reason for calling it the Full Red Moon is that in the last days of summer, haze, especially from forest and prairie fires, made the moon appear to red to many native Americans in the East.

It was also called the Full Corn Moon, Green Corn Moon and the Grain Moon.

Moon shadows. Moon beams. Moon struck.

Tonight’s picture was taken after you readers in the east had turned in for the day. Where Susan and I are currently chasing birds, on the left coast of America, the party was just getting started.

[Full disclosure: I created this blue moon using a digital process that renders things in the old fashioned cyanotype image. California smog helped with the redish version.]