Red Moonlight

A story written for a prompt “moonlight” for a writing group I’ve joined.

In the past the shadow of Earth would gradually spread across the face of the Moon, it was time for mayhem, time for fear.

But these days people don’t consider the changes that could happen during full moon, or even more so – a lunar eclipse.

Blood red moon due. The TV news channels were full of it. The weather man explained when you could see it. Start at 2.32am, mid eclipse 4.17am, and the end at 6.23 am.

If there was a clear sky people would go out and look. In the dark of the night they would dress up warmly and try and the marvellous sky bourne event.

But in the dark things were scampering, hiding close by, hidden in trees and bushes and tall grassland. Things that changed at the full moon, ready to capture and ensnare. The blackness of night was increased during the full eclipse, when the brilliant moon was dimmed.

It was 3am when she decided to view this lunar delight. A flask of tea, a warm coat and scarf, strong shoes to stop her turning her ankle in the tussocky grass…… A good torch with new batteries. Out the back door- out the gate and into the alleyway… She moved through the misery air. Feet slipping on the frosty ground. Down the path into the feild edges. She was watching where her feet fell but chanced a quick glance upwards. The moon was pinkish, a darker shadow to one side.

As she walked she heard shuffling sounds in the grass. But she took no notice. Out into the main feild. Quietness. The eclipse was doing it’s thing gradually reddening. A blush on the lunar surface. Moonlight but crimson, like blood.

She sat on a wooden bench and poured herself a cup of tea. Strong, no sugar. Sipping it she tried to sit comfortably, head up, neck craning to get a good view through entangled tree branches. ‘Snap’ a twig crunched. Turning her head she saw a glimpse. A WEREWOLF’s Smile…..

Strawberries and Cream

It’s not Summer, not even Spring, but Strawberries are out in the shops and are quite tasty. I had some tonight for tea with cream. I did sprinkle a bit of sweetner over the top of them.

I did think of adding a few blueberries to the fruit but there was enough with what I’d already prepared.

What I do like is the way cream fills in the little pores of the strawberries, it makes a nice pattern and could be cropped and put together as a collage. I might do that. Red is a favourite colour and this with the contrast of black and white makes a fresh looking image.

Cadmium colours

In the 1980’s My hubby worked for a few years in a cadmium colour factory, they processed the raw pigments to get  colours from pale yellow, through orange to red and deep matoon red. He bought me jars and jars (empty coffee jars) of the colours home, but as they are made of a heavy metal I decided to give them to a friend who knew how to use them and grind her own oil paint.

I don’t know if he was allowed to bring them but I think he knew I would love the colours and I did. They were the purest colours I had ever seen. To quote Rudolphs song “you could almost say they glowed”. As Cadmium is similar to Lead though, I decided not to use them.

Copper sky

The clouds shone like copper tonight, not red or gold. This is the closest I can get to the colour like in this photo. I’m still looking out for a view of the comet that’s in the evening sky after sunset  when it’s clear, but I haven’t spotted it yet.

I wish I could have taken a photo of the actual sunset but I was driving and my camera was in the handbag on the back seat and I couldn’t find anywhere to stop. I will try and look again tomorrow

The whole country except me!

Last night sparkling red /pink /green auroras shone over the UK and I missed them! They apparently were around at about 10.15pm, I normally look out after midnight. Suddenly my Facebook feed was inundated with photos. Oh I was miffed. I tried to take some pictures but not much was visible, the aurora had clearly wandered off somewhere else. Then as I was going to bed at about 1.30am I just caught a glimmer of a glow in the sky. Rather than going outside in the freezing air I looked out the kitchen window and managed to get some shaky shots. Well there may be another chance tonight xxx