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.

 

Fording The Early Morning ...

“An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.”

               ~ Henry David Thoreau

                        ~ 1817 ~ 1862

A vehicle crosses the spring waters at the Ford of the Jordan Creek, one of my very favorite places to be and to photograph, at Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.

I shot this in the early morning of May 31, 2022 after taking sunrise photos at the preserve. I spent several hours walking through the preserve’s beautiful spring scenery with the air soft and warm in the low 70s before temperatures soared into the 90s.

For more than 50 years visitors have enjoyed driving through the Jordan Creek. Kids and kids at heart cite “Crossing the Water” as one of their fondest memories.

 

Fording Winter ...

“How many lessons of faith and beauty should we lose, if there were no winter in our year!”

               ~ Thomas Wentworth Higginson

                      ~ 1823-1911

                  ~from “April Days”

                         ~ 1861

A vehicle crosses the icy waters at the Ford of the Jordan Creek, one of my very favorite places to be and to photograph, at Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.

I shot this frosty scene as the light of the looming sunset waltzes on the icy waters soon after the historic January Blizzard of 2016. In a winter shorn of snow until the blizzard, the storm plonked 31 inches of snow on nearby Allentown in a 24 hour period.

 For more than 50 years visitors have enjoyed driving through the Jordan Creek. Kids and kids at heart cite “Crossing the Water” as one of their fondest memories.