This Eclipse of Mine

 

The old house with swings on the porch

I'm posting late today because I wanted to post photos of the eclipse. This is almost Real Time. Think of me as the news.

I've been looking forward to the eclipse for six or eight months. I live some miles north of the path of totality -- the area where the moon totally covers the face of the sun. I had to drive about seven hours to get to my sun-watching site.

I'm in western Virginia, so the nearest point to the totality was past Asheviile, North Carolina. Where to stay? Where to stand and actually watch the eclipse?

 

inside the house
(R Brantel)

Researching on the internet I found a celebration of

The living room
(SA Hunter)

the eclipse in the town of Cherokee on the Cherokee Indian Reservation. There would be dancing and stories. How could I resist?

 

The lake in the distance as we drove by  (SA Hunter)

I was driving down with friends so I needed somewhere largish for us to stay. I found a most wonderful place ... an old house that had been converted into a meditational center in Lake Junaluska. A century-old house, quiet and dignified and charming.  That's the house above. Here's the lake.

Early in the morning we left Lake J and headed to Cherokee through some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.

In Cherokee we passed the war memorial, with the names of all who had served. Also a tank.

Quite a nice tank, assuming it is not mad at you

The lovely river in Cherokee
(all these are photocredit SA Hunter)

A bear outside the Cherokee Museum.(Not a real bear)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the Cherokee dancers. He also works in the Interpretive Center of the Museaum (R Brantel)

This is me eagerly awaiting the eclipse

We found a spot under the trees and listened to many bands; ate American Indian tacos; heard a Cherokee myth about the invention of the flute; ate fried bread; and listened to drumming and dancing, including bear dancing. We took a walk by the river, which is more stunning than the picture would have you believe.

We did all this because you cannot just say, "Let's have the eclipse now," and expect it to happen. We had to wait.

In the fullness of time we saw the first indications that the sun was being eaten by the moon. Eaten by a Great Frog as the Cherokee myth might go. First a nibble. then a larger slice. Takes a while.

As everyone in the US who is not living under a rock knows, one does not look directly at the sun

sun goggles
Not government approved

during an eclipse. Or anytime, really.  One wears little goggles as if one were watching a 3-D movie. These are mine.

The most exciting thing about them is that they didn't actually SAY they were government approved, but they did block out all light when you put them on and scanned the countryside, so I took the chance.

Smile-shaped sun shadows

The eclipse began. The light filtering through the leaves of the trees showed the smile of the sun and the shadow of the moon. Lovely.

Slowly the disk of the sun was covered by the moon. At totality the sun hangs in the sky like a great black rock surrounded by fire. That lasts about two minutes. The countryside is covered with the darkness of late sunset. (I didn't notice any change in animals behavior because of the aforementioned rock music.) 

... and no, I am not going to try to take pictures of the eclipse. NASA does it better as in this photo

The shadow of the moon passes and a brilliant light flares, like the white sparkle of fireworks. Slowly, the sun returns.

My eclipse. So cool. So much worth the drive.

 

Have you ever seen an eclipse?

Where and when.

Cool or not cool?

 

 

Comments

[Linda S]

We sat on our deck in East Tennessee and saw the whole thing. It was amazing, and for me, the highlight of 2017.

[Sue McCormick]

My first eclipse was a partial in the 1930s. I watched with my grandfather, who died in 1939.

We were in the direct path, so my husband and I watched in "fits and starts" from the first "bite" until 5 minutes before total. We stayed outside for the entire total time, but didn't watch the leaving.

We're getting too old to have the stamina for that much watching. But what was saw was fascinating. I hadn't realized that the earth rotated so quickly! I had to keep moving my head to keep up with the sun!

[Mary Jo Putney]

We would get 80% here in Maryland. I'd ordered viewing squares (Not glasses, just squares in front of the face), so we we went out and looked when it was at maximum. Interestingly, there were some clouds that mostly obscured the sun but looking through the film, the sun and the frog bite out of it were very clear. We looked for a minute or two, then went back to the a/c. It's hard to tell if cats are behaving oddly when they are sleeping.

[gamistress66]

watched the NASA stream since only went to 80% here & I didn't get glasses & had to work (plus wasn't sure how much would see as lots of trees here abouts). it was pretty neat and actually got to see it a few times as they did remotes from different locations along the path. what I thought was really cool was the video they showed from space with moon's shadow going across the earth.

[Mel Scott]

There was one in Australia when I was small, which I remember as being cool and a bit eerie. We get another one here downunder in 11 years :D

[Kathy K]

Cats sleeping are completely normal. If they'd run around with wide, wild eyes that would have been abnormal. (grin)

[Janga]

We watched the NASA stream until 2:30 when we moved outside to watch the maximum 93.84 percent eclipse in our area. It was eerily quiet here. We live in the country and are used to the sounds of birds, squirrels, our neighbor's horses, etc. But today--nothing except deep twilight and silence. It was memorable even if it was not a total eclipse.

[Sarah Lingle]

Saw it in Salem, Oregon, where we were in totality for about 2 minutes. What I first noticed was not a dimming of the light, but that it started to get cooler, even sitting in the sun. At totality, a neighbor's dog howled, but mostly we heard an uptick in the sound of my neighbors talking and laughing in their backyards. A couple of people lit fireworks. Surprisingly it seemed to be quite light until the sun was about 90%, when it suddenly was noticeably dimmer, and then it was like someone had turned out the lights. I got great pictures, even though my camera started acting up towards totality. I even got a shot of the "diamond ring". I rigged a filter for my Canon camera lens with the paper eclipse glasses lens, and it worked great.

[Barbara Monajem (@BarbaraMonajem)]

We peered at it through pinhole viewers made from random boxes. My daughter made three, and at first I thought all the taped boxes meant we must be sending a lot of merchandise back! We got a lot of those lovely smiley shadows on our back porch.

[Karin]

It sounds like a great place for eclipse watching, Jo. I saw about 70-75% here in New Jersey, although it was overcast much of the time. It's quiet in my back yard so I did hear the birds tweeting quite a bit as the moon moved in, as they do at dusk.

[Mary T]

It was quite interesting - although it didn't seem to live up to the hype - at least in my mind. I sat on my porch while it was happening. I had no desire to look directly at the sun, so I didn't need any special glasses. It was hot and sultry here but it suddenly felt quite pleasant - for a few minutes anyway. It didn't get completely dark - more like twilight. But it did get dark enough for the street lights to flick on. And while I didn't see any animals about, it didn't stop the bees from doing their work around my flowers.

[Faith Freewoman]

Lovely description, and what a fabulous place to witness the eclipse, surrounded by story, magic and music. Wish I coulda been there!

Cheers, Faith

[Mary M.]

Glad some of you had the full experience Monday. In Phoenix we only had around 60% and never got much of an effect. But I recall a better one years ago.

For a partial eclipse in the late '80s, I stood beneath a lacy-leafed tree with my viewing device. Instead of one little projected image, I saw a many-fold twinkle of dancing crescents as the light filtered through the leaves. Tried to duplicate that Monday, but alas, I've forgotten how I did it then.

[Joanne Bourne]

It was magical

[Joanne Bourne]

I found it difficult to keep my head tilted back to see the sun for that long. Got a crick in my neck.

I needed to bring an air mattress and lie on the ground.

[Joanne Bourne]

Hmmm ... pity we can't see the cat dreams.

Do Cats Dream of Electric Mice?

[Joanne Bourne]

Oh. Now that would be interesting.

I'm trying to work out how the shadow of the moon on the earth would work. I guess it would follow the path that's been printed up everywhere.

My brain isn't up to it, really.

[Joanne Bourne]

Hope you go see a totality in Australia.

It's always seemed a pity to me, wasting so much eclipse on the empty ocean.

[Joanne Bourne]

So you did get an animal effect, I suppose.

All those sheep and cows and sparrows looking up and saying "Uh oh."

[Joanne Bourne]

Thinking back, maybe it did get cooler.

(jo looks around and asks everybody.All of them say the temperature did drop. I didn't notice myself ... but the plurality did.)

You went taking yer pictures right. I am so impressed.

[Joanne Bourne]

I remembered the odd-shaped tree shadows from last time. Wondered if I would see them again. Did.

[Joanne Bourne]

Interesting. The birds acting as they do at dusk. Good description.

[Joanne Bourne]

Have I become skeptical of the "wild animals reacting" to the eclipse stories? Maybe.

It doesn't seem consistent.

[Joanne Bourne]

It was moving. Kinda serene.

I didn't expect it to be, but it was.

[Joanne Bourne]

I think everybody got something out of it. It wasn't necessary to have the whole shebang. The magic is still there.

[Margaret]

Jo, your adventure/experience sounds just wonderful. I watched the 80% in a field near my house and found it to be interesting, though not life changing. I ran in and got my dog at the peak because I didn't want him to "miss" the experience, but he seemed completely indifferent! At 20%, the sun was fascinating to look at but still amazingly strong and hot. All I could think was that at 20%, I'm essentially useless! My son went to the totality and said the experience was worth every bit of inconvenience it took to get there, so we're laying in plans for 2024.

[Kim]

We had a 75% eclipse. I experienced it at my local library. The libraries in my area gave out free solar eclipse glasses, so their was a large turnout throughout the city. My hometown will experience a total solar eclipse in 2024.

[Michelle Athy]

We got 70% yesterday. I was at my library job, so I went out with the librarian I work with to the front of the building, where there was a small crowd. The library was giving out eclipse glasses. Someone let me borrow theirs for a bit and I looked. Very cool.

[Quantum]

The last total eclipse in the UK was in the summer of 1999 but weather restricted visibility. I watched on the television where they did get glimpses of the corona and I also experienced the darkening effect outside. Certainly an awesome experience.

It seems amazing that the orbital radius of the moon is such that it's visible size exactly matches the visible size of the sun so that the corona can be clearly observed. The orbital radius is of course increasing very slowly with time and it seems magical that this size matching coincides with human existence on the planet.

Indeed many think that the moon may have been instrumental in the evolution of life itself. Another reason for awe .... definitely cool!

[Vicki L.]

So....my 97% totality eclipse experience was watching shadows, the thermometer and the birds. Between 1:45 and 1:55 we had clouds but then they went away.

The best shadows leading up to totality were in the back yard. (I watched "bites" appear.) The best shadows during totality were in the front yard on the sidewalk and driveway. (All those cool moon slivers.)

I thought that was interesting that I could see bites out of shadows in the back but not in the front. But then during totality I had all these great moon sliver looking things on the driveway and sidewalk.

Bird activity was unchanged - the eclipse didn't seem to phase them at all. During totality I did hear a couple of katydid's calling (they only call during the night.)

It did get very dark in the back yard where we have all the trees but in the front yard it just got dim....

At 1:27 pm the temps were 91.2. The lowest it dropped down to was 80.8 at 2:52 pm. By 2:55 pm the temps had slowly started climbing back up. It was also easy to see in the backyard again as well.

I had lots of fun in my AC viewing area as in the house....with only 1 and 2 min excursions out into the heat to look DOWN at the shadows in the front yard.

My poor husband went up to north GA to be in a 100% totality area and poor guy....they had 100% clouds. I saw more neat stuff than he did. He invested in all kinds of stuff for safe picture taking and got...squat.

[Joanne Bourne]

I do think the totality is worth quite a bit of trouble and time.

I've seen two totalities now and several partials so I consider myself an expert. "Yeah 2024!" says I.

[Joanne Bourne]

You are so lucky. A totality right on top of you!

My home town library also had an event and gave out glasses ... but I wasn't there. :[ I think it would have been fun.

[Joanne Bourne]

The whole idea is ... all of the eclipse from a few percentage points, just a small bite out of the sun, all the way to totality -- is cool.

[Joanne Bourne]

I should imagine there are very few planets where the eclipsed sun exactly matches the apparent diameter of the moon.

I think the path of the totality must be filled with space aliens, come to see this unique show.

[Joanne Bourne]

It seems so unfair we have to deal with sun, moon AND clouds. I mean, we should get a pass on bad weather when they decide to hold an eclipse.

[Kareni]

I stayed at home where the eclipse was about 97% or so. I didn't notice animal noises, but it did become dusk-like and the street lights came on. My husband and sister both traveled to totality areas (one in TN, one in OR); each found the experience fantastic and awe inspiring. Both want to go to future eclipse viewings; my husband is lobbying for Chile in 2020. We shall see.

[Joanne Bourne]

Chile does seem a long voyage ... but it's probably worth it for many other reasons. It sounds fascinating.

I'm glad you got to see the 97%. And I never thought about street lights coming on. *g*