Eclipsed

I had grand plans to photograph the "Blood Moon" lunar eclipse early yesterday morning. Given our often cloudy skies, it's rare that we get to see a lunar eclipse here (or maybe just rare that I am motivated to try to see one). We were blessed with a clear night so I thought my odds were good. I got my camera ready and based on the visibility predicted in the newspaper, I got up in the pre-dawn darkness to grab some photos.

At 4 a.m., the moon still looked perfectly normal. And that WAS a bit early. So I went back to bed and looked again about 5:15 a.m. But by then, the moon had sunk so low on the horizon that it was behind the apartment buildings overlooking our garden -- the buildings eclipsed my view of the eclipse, you might say. So for me, it was a bust -- but others in the UK apparently got to see it.

Maybe I could have walked up the street and found a clear vantage point, but I wasn't that motivated. Oh well.

Dave is home from his Belgian sojourn. Apparently the kids are all back healthy and in one piece, and the concerts went well. He returned with some Belgian treats like beer and cheese and fruit preserves, so for the next few days I'll be transported to Belgium myself, at least in a culinary sense. Olga was funny when he walked in the house -- it took her a moment to get excited. I'm not sure she recognized him immediately. I wonder if her eyesight is going. She's already quite deaf. But she sees squirrels out on the lawn, so she's not too blind.

Tramp, our local graffiti artist, left this on some uneven pavement on West End Lane. It does make people look, so maybe he saved someone from a stumble.

(Top photo: Flowering quince on our street.)