Slightly Off-Topic: Lunar Eclipse!

Just to keep this at least partly on-topic, a quick comment... This past Saturday, we all had dinner at our folks' house; A got there with Miri before I did, and when she answered the door (kidling in arms), I got a huuuuge smile from my niece.  Then on Sunday, I went over to A's house to help put together a rack/toy sorter/bin & shelf thing, and again as soon as the Pipsqueak saw me -- huuuuuge smile.  Felt really good, y'know?  In the past she's sometimes looked at me and then played shy for a couple of minutes, but lately she's more likely to show she's glad to see me, sometimes even teasing me with a hello and then laughing & hiding her face (usually against Mommy or Grandma) when I go to give her a kiss. Just so doggone CUTE...!!!

(Okay, so I'm smitten. I could do worse. <smile>)

Anyway, as far as the off-topic topic mentioned in the title, I just wanted to say that I thought this past night's lunar eclipse was just way, way cool. (Actually, it was #&%@! COLD outside, but that's another issue.)  I've always been a bit of a science geek, and I even remember a night when I was maybe 4 years old when Mom woke me up near midnight and the two of us sat in the kitchen watching my first lunar eclipse through the window.

Well, this past evening's eclipse was extra-special; a full lunar eclipse coinciding with the Winter Solstice. I just had to see it -- so there I was, running out with the camera & tripod every few minutes, watching 'til I couldn't feel my fingers (or the camera's warm spot over the battery felt cold), then running back in to thaw fingers & camera before starting the process all over again. This started not too long after I got home from work around 1:30am and continued nonstop until 4:00am... It would've gone on longer (I wanted to get photos of the latter half of the eclipse), but by then I couldn't find a vantage point that didn't have trees between me & the moon.

Some of the photos didn't turn out too well (I've never used this camera on a tripod, or in extreme cold, or for long-duration photos before) and some of them are just plain weird-looking, but here's a quick sampling of the progression from 2:00am through 4:00am Eastern Time. (Sorry for the way the moon bounces around in the frame; I had to set up the tripod fresh each time I ran outside, plus I had to keep panning & tilting to follow the moon across the sky.)