Guitars and stargazing

Yesterday I bought myself a guitar. It's about 10 years since I have properly played a guitar, but I have been wanting to take it up again for some time now. I was delivering training in Croydon yesterday for Action for Children volunteers. On my way to the training venue I passed by a large music shop with a huge selection of guitars. I popped in just to see if there was anything I liked. The shop assistant (who had hair down to his waist, though I suspect it was permed, the spiral curls were just too perfect!) was very helpful showing me lots of different guitars. The one above which I bought seemed the easiest to play, the right size for me and had the best sound. The guitar is an electro acoustic Tanglewood, rosewood reserve. Its quieter than my previous guitar but a bit livelier I think. I've just got to go through the first few weeks of pain while I build up calluses on my finger tips and strength in my fingers.

As well as taking up guitar again I have been doing a bit of star gazing thanks to Jason buying some really cool binoculars which came with a smaller free pair so we have a pair each. We've had a couple of clear nights recently and I've been able to find stars I've not been able to see for years. Orion of course is incredibly bright at this time of year but with the binoculars I could see one of the nebula within the constellation of Orion.

A couple of weeks ago there was a partial eclipse at dawn which I was able to see. The photo before is of the sky just before the eclipsed sun rose. It was really quite beautiful.