Shine on, harvest blog.

Another bonus extra day of summer today. Warm enough to make the twilight walk very nice indeed -- with the added attraction of a coppery moon rising, nearly the full Harvest Moon. The term "Harvest Moon" is only a quaint relic, of course. We ought to consider a new nickname for the October full moon. The High School Football Moon, maybe.

Even since yesterday, the coloration of the suburban trees has turned up a notch, and so for a week or two the pace of change promises to be fast. Halloween decor is also sprouting in some of the yards, some of it ridiculous almost beyond belief. In particular, a giant inflatable jack o' lantern with three cartoon ghosts emerging from its top, all lit up electrically. The ghosts are in the style of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon factory at its worst, and whole array is taller than I am.

I ask myself, what did the Chinese factory workers who made that item, and thousands of others like it, think of them? Did they wonder who on Earth was buying them? Did they shrug, and figure nothing is too silly for round-eyes?

Back when I lived in the western suburbs, there was a fellow in my neighborhood who made his own decorations, and who did his ghoulish best. One year part of his yard display for Halloween was a mock electric chair with a manikin in it -- and the manikin's head had been replaced by a plastic skull. A couple of other ghouls were close by. A lot of effort went into them; and that from someone who never, ever cleared the snow off the sidewalks next to his property in the following winters. But at least he didn't go off to Wal-Mart and buy a man-sized inflatable cartoon Frankenstein monster whose main colors are purple and green.