Basking in the Light

There is one British gentleman who is simply amazed at the light in Florida, comparing it to Provence which is indeed a nice compliment. As such, he was content just to sit in the sun before we went food shopping.

 

As Tom is fond of cooking, we went to both Whole Foods on Sand Lake Road, and Costco. He proclaimed that the size of Costco was roughly the size of his hometown in the Midlands. I kept reminding him to get whatever he wanted, however, I think he was content just to take in all wonders. We like him already, for a number of reasons, one of which is that he's already at home with Baxter. Dare I say he's smitten?

Stopping at Ross first for a pair of sunglasses and a short sleeved shirt for Tom, we made our rounds, arriving home in time for me to make a nice vegan dinner with Nancy joining us. Although she looked at the meal with a bit of skepticism, she actually liked it just fine. Tom, Nancy and I made ours vegetarian by adding a sprinkling of feta cheese to our spicy pasta dish. Cookies for dessert. 

Speaking of the light, on Monday afternoon I did some reading about how to photograph the total lunar eclipse. I vacillated about getting up to see it, especially after staying up to nearly midnight! Matt and Tom were oh so lucky to get out of Chicago during a big snowstorm, with all flights after theirs being canceled. Poor Mr. Bruce had to get up early to fly to Bethesda! Nevertheless, deciding it was not something that happens every day, I had Matt set my phone alarm for 3:30, a time I thought would be good. And it was. 

Walking outside in to the cold night air, not to mention on the very, very cold travertine deck, the sight of an orange moon was breathtaking really. Earlier in the night, we showed Matt and Tom the pool and the moon was so bright you could see the entire back yard.  With the earth between the sun and the moon, the camera struggled to focus in the dark, with me trying multiple shots at different settings. Although I used my tripod and self-timer, I am just not technically savvy enough to get a money shot. Here's what I got when I first went out:

 

The moon is blurry, but you definitely get the idea. After a bit, the earth began to move and here's what that looked like:

Deciding that my feet were just too cold, not to mention that I had to get up in another two hours to take Bruce to the airport that's all I saw, but am I ever glad I did. Our world is full of amazing sights, don't you agree?

Today we are off to both Gatorland and this play, Chaps! A Jingle Jangle Christmas. No doubt, you'll hear about both excursions soon.

Actually, don't be surprised if my blogging is sporadic in the next week or so. Soon, very soon, I'll have to get serious about figuring out how to feed twenty people on Christmas day.