When the moon eclipses, it doesn't matter how cold...

We seldom see full moons here in the mountains, because there are frequent clouds whenever they happen.
So I started peeping at it around 7:45, and there were stars visible too...but of course I can't quite get my little Nikon to see them.

 Isn't this one neat, with 2 orbs that came to visit?

The camera sends out some kind of infared signal to focus on things, and it really had trouble with the moon.  I think the lens might have gotten a bit of condensation on it as well.

I found myself sneaking outside every hour, and I didn't even bother taking photos that didn't show a thing...which of course meant bundling up since it was in the teens by then, and sometimes blustery too.

 Around 10 there was a shadow cast on the lower edge, and a camera which wasn't held exactly still gave it a nice mellon look.

I went to bed around 10:45, and loved that it was starting to have that reddish tint, but it was too cold for my old bones to come out again later.  I'm so glad some others did!

Here's Jim Polling's capture (had a better zoom, but still hand held!) of the full eclipse.

And here's my new favorite by Martha Fabre Hale on Facebook...

Smile!

My son Russ when he was around 5.  Taken with a Kodak Instamatic camera with really poor resolution.

It was a fun afternoon, enjoying watermellon with my kids and friends, and maybe family.  I well remember my sister visiting with her young daughter one time.  We lived in Tampa, and my sister lived in Tennessee, and her husband's business took him back and forth to Coral Gables (Miami area) frequently.  So they would usually stop for the night at my home whenever they were driving back and forth.  I was glad to have the company, though I was working a full time job at the time and didn't get to spend as much time with them as I would have liked.

I'll have to dig out some pictures of my sister's log cabin on a mountain in Tennessee sometime.  We did visit her several summer vacations, especially after I bought a camper van.

Oh here's Russ today...in Connecticut.  Couldn't resist adding this "update".

Still smiling!

by the roadside

I zipped up to Spruce Pine to pick up some pots at a gallery following the Clay Club exhibit.  On the way I thought I'd record some pictures to share.  I was struck by the architecture I passed, some of which no longer functions as designed.

I politely stopped for the train in Old Fort, after all it's the same line which goes through Black Mountain on the other side of the "pass" over the continental divide.  However this guy was going very slow.

If I'd had my trusty spray paint I could have added some graffiti.

Then it stopped completely.  That's when I saw the side road which allowed me to go around the end, wait for the garbage truck guy to talk to (I don't know who, maybe his girlfriend who's car was going by,)  then eventually get back on the highway through town.  The train was still being switched around.   I swear!

Old Fort is a sleepy southern town, with lots of pretty old homes and trees.

I've stopped before to take pictures of this abandoned home (and the sun was glaring the wrong direction this morning so this isn't a good picture).

And then?  Where are the pictures of the traffic jam from the construction project on the switch-backs going from Marion up to Little Switzerland?  How about the mountain vistas?

Well, the batteries died for the camera.  And I didn't have any extra ones.  Phoey.