Goodbye September....

September has just about left the room, its been a month of lots of  interesting happenings. I tried out my new camera on the moon in preparation for the lunar eclipse and blood moon.

I was so pleased with my practice shots which I took the night before the big event. 

I was encouraged by my shots and set my alarm to get up the following morning at 2.45am. There had been a lot of coverage on the TV explaining the timing of the eclipse and how the blood moon would happen. Its the last time that the particular circumstances come together for 30 years, so I was determined to witness it.  In some ways I was disappointed, there had been a lot of chat about a Super Moon, a moon 15% bigger than usual. As it turned out to me it didn't really look any bigger at all!

So Tom and I set our alarm and headed out to the back garden, I had my camera and tripod at the ready. Once out there we could see that the moon was already greatly obscured. The night was very clear and the stars were brilliant. Because the moon was dark in colour I found it hard to focus on it. The more obscured it became the less light there was, in the end we witnessed the red moon but wasn't able to get a decent photo.

This was the best of a bad bunch. I am pleased that I managed at least one half decent shot. It was also well worth getting up early to see all the stars that somehow seemed much brighter in the very clear dark sky.

I was lucky to be able to go on a trip to the Tower of London with the Social Club at work. Its a great trip which doesn't start until the Tower is closed to the public. We left work at 4.30 and travelled to London by coach. The traffic was awful so we didn't arrive until 7pm! We took a few photos outside before heading inside for the tour.

It was a lovely evening with a rather nice sunset. 

The sky looked lovely and all the offices were lit up.

The Tower looked fantastic at night. We had gone along to see the ceremony of the keys which takes place at 10pm every night. We had a guided tour of the Tower plus a look into the parish church within the walls where four queen are buried. After the tour we had dinner in the Yeoman Warders mess (with a nice cider!!) before heading out for the ceremony. 

I was pleased with the performance of my camera, I still have so much to learn!!

We are now preparing for the autumn, lots of gardening to get that sorted for the winter. We have been enjoying so lovely sunny days but the evening and mornings are chilly. Its hard having to change over from summer to winter clothes!

So hello October, a month of many birthdays!!

I hope you all have a lovely week, I will be sharing some pottery photos next post, I am still really enjoying my pottery in the shed!!!