A Stellar Event and An Early Santa

A Lunar Eclipse+Winter Solstice + Meteor showers = one amazing event tonight!

For the first time in 372 years, a total lunar eclipse coincides with the winter solstice. On the east coast it starts after midnight, Pacific Standard Time around 9;30 p.m. Across the country, the whole eclipse will be observable before the moon sets in the west just as the sun is rising in the east. Maximum eclipse is at 12:17 a.m. PST.   W O W!

Here's my little darling Tillie. She isn't too happy about having her photo taken and she wouldn't let me clean her eyes before I took her picture! Her personality is really developing now. It's taken awhile for her to settle in but what a joy she has become. Cleo, our tenacious 17 year old is not terribly happy about sharing her house once again, but there is, for the most part, peace in the kingdom

 Santa came a little early for me this year. I think we are both trying to cut down on the Holidaze frenzy that seems so difficult to avoid these days. I had been wanting a small camera that I could always have with me - since I don't always carry my Nikon DSLR - especially after the back surgery I am trying to lighten the daily carrying load. I had thought I would get a small Nikon - brand loyalty and all that, but when I got to investigating small digital cameras the Panasonic Lumix seemed to garner praise consistently.... so I got a Panasonic instead. Here is a link to the page about this amazing little camera:

http://tinyurl.com/23w72be

One of the best things about this little gem is the Leica lens and the fact that in equivalent SLR terms the lens is capable of 25mm to 300mm. That's amazing. The quality and clarity is pretty darned amazing too. If you are a diehard DSLR devotee you may not like the lack of totally manual capability - but for this is a great little camera for all of those times that you think "I wish had my camera with me!"

I had to take some office photos with it to see how it managed light... it did well !

 Early morning light from my office windows

 My desk

 from another view

 One of our clients wife's made this lovely mobile for our office... she even has a dollar bill craftily made as a crane. Many blessing in this mobile!

 Prayer flags over the door

 This eagle photograph was given to DH by the photographer. Beautifully printed on canvas.

 For a brief quiet moment - the window behind my desk.

The camera performed well in all kinds of light.

This is the other wonderful thing that Santa brought early. I listen to my IPod a lot and have not found a set of earbuds that works well for. I have Bose over the head earphones that I love but they can be rather conspicuous at times. These ear buds are, without a doubt the most comfortable ones - with the BEST sound quality - that I have used. Bar none. I had hesitation because of the little extension on them, but is made of some super soft, pilable silicone or something that makes these fit SUPER WELL. I love these. 

http://tinyurl.com/282xnlf
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That's it for me. I have some very cool new things to experiment with thanks to the kind folks at Kandi Corp.... and in a few days I will be posting the results of my experiments. They should be of interest to fiber folks of all kinds - paper and cloth. I'm excited to try this new toy out

In the meantime I wish each one of you the best of all holiday seasons and New Year that will bring you peace, happiness, health and prosperity!

HO HO HO!