Snow Moon Brushes The Silvery Creek ...

“By the light of the silvery moon, I want to spoon, to my honey I’ll croon love’s tune …”

         ~ “By the Light of the Silvery Moon”

    ~ popular love song, music by Gus Edwards, lyrics by Edward Madden

       ~ published 1909, one of a series of moon-related Tin Pan Alley songs

      ~ performed in the 1953 film “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” by  Doris Day, Gordon MacRae and others throughout the film

The full Snow Moon melts into a silvery creek in the beautiful surreal in wintertime.

I created this image by blending my shot of the Snow Moon of February 1, 2026 shining over the West End of Allentown, Pennsylvania with “Silvered Shores,” my February 2017 capture of the snow-laden creek at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania as a hint of sunset blushes the creek between its silvered shores after a fresh snowfall.

The Snow Moon is often named for the heavy snowfalls common during this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere. The cold, dense air of February often makes this moon appear brighter and sharper.

I shot this soon after this Snow Moon hit its maximum 100 percent illumination at 5:09 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Moonglow Meets The Delaware ...

“It must have been moonglow, way up in the blue,

It must have been moonglow that led me straight to you …”

                        ~  “Moonglow”

            ~ 1933 popular song & jazz standard

           ~ Will Hudson & Irving Mills, composers

               ~ Eddie DeLange, lyricist

   ~ “Moonglow & Theme from Picnic” is a 1956-releaased medley of both “Moonglow” & “Theme from Picnic” (1955) by Morris Stoloff – one of my favorite movies!

Moonglow meets the Delaware River over the historic Free Bridge during a soft purple twilight in autumn in the beautiful surreal.

Reflections from lights on the historic Northampton Street Bridge, commonly called the Free Bridge, trip the light fantastic as they dance in harmony on the Delaware River from my vantage point by the banks of the Delaware in Phillipsburg, New Jersey at dusk in late November.

Programmable LED lights illuminate the iconic bridge which spans the Delaware River to link Phillipsburg with Easton.

The lights were installed as part of a bridge rehabilitation/improvement project that spanned from late 2021 until spring 2023. The bridge is colloquially referred as the “Free Bridge” to distinguish it from the Easton-Phillipsburg Toll Bridge (previously the Bushkill Street Bridge), a short distance upstream.

The bridge that spans the two states was completed in 1896 and survived massive flooding from Hurricane Diane in 1955. It underwent a thorough restoration in 1990 and is one of my very favorite places to photograph.

Historic Phillipsburg was established March 8, 1861 and named for William Phillips, an early settler of the area. The historic town of Easton was founded in 1752 and is located at the confluence of the Delaware River and Lehigh River, known as the Forks-Of-The-Delaware. Both are Delaware River Towns.

The Free Bridge can also be seen from across the Delaware River at Delaware Canal State Park, Easton, near the Forks of the Delaware Trailhead of the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail).

Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.

I created this image by blending my November 22, 2025 shot of the bridge with my capture of the Supermoon of December 3, 2017 shining brightly over Cedar Creek Parkway, Allentown, Pennsylvania. 

A Supermoon happens when the full moon coincides with the moon’s closest approach to Earth in its orbit. Supermoons make the moon appear a little brighter and closer than normal.

The term Supermoon has only been used in the past 40 years.

 

Drive Me To The Moon ...

“Fly me to the moon

Let me play among the stars

Let me see what spring is like

On a-Jupiter and Mars

 

In other words: hold my hand

In other words: baby, kiss me …

 

… In other words: please be true

In other words: I love you”

   ~ “Fly Me to the Moon”

 ~ song written by Bart Howard & made famous by the wonderful Frank Sinatra

 

  ~originally titled “In Other Words,” the song was written in 1954 by Bart Howard. The first recording of the song was made in 1954 by Kaye Ballard. Frank Sinatra’s 1964 version was closely associated with the Apollo missions to the Moon.

 

Frank Sinatra sang “Fly Me to the Moon,” but in the beautiful surreal of my imagination, those in this vehicle can say, “drive me to the moon” as they come upon a full Snow Moon gently dipping into the Little Lehigh Creek as a winter sunset looms in late February.

 

I created this image by blending my painterly, HDR shot of a vehicle motoring along the road at Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pennsylvania with my capture of the full Snow Moon over the West End of Allentown on February 24, 2024.

 

February’s full moon was called Snow Moon by many Native American cultures due to the typically heavy snowfall that occurs during this time of year. According to the National Weather Service, February is the United States’ snowiest month.

 

The Snow Moon was 2024’s only micro full moon. Micro moons appear about 10 percent smaller than a normal full moon and are about 14 percent smaller than the other extreme in appearance – a supermoon. Micro full moons occur when the moon is at its farthest point away from Earth in the orbit called apogee. Not only did the Snow Moon look smaller, but the added distance reduces how much sunlight can reflect back to Earth. This micro moon looked about 30 percent dimmer than normal.

           

This was the last full moon of the 2024 winter season.