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| Eclipse shadows on the sidewalk. |
However as I sat down to finish this morning, I just got over the whole eclipse thing. It went from being awe inspiring to annoying. What did that for me? When I first started the computer, one of my news feeds reported that Sarah Jessica Parker said that the eclipse was a life changing experience for her. Good for her. She seems to be a nice enough person and that's sounds important for her. But I don't care. That little item took away from my "after the eclipse glow." I guess that it because the reporting had gone away from the actual event to inventing news about how celebrities felt about the event.
So I need an attitude adjustment. I need to be annoyed with the "news" and remember how excited I truly was with yesterday's celestial events. I viewed the eclipse at home with Ward and Theo and we had no parties or no special refreshments, just solar glasses and clouds that parted enough times to give us several views of the disappearing sun. Although we didn't experience a total eclipse (we had 82% coverage), it was magical all the same.
That's what I need to remember and my ramblings here have helped with that. Thanks for listening.
Note: I guess I'm avoiding the real subject here--the state of the news today. Don't get me started on that anger-inducing subject because I'm smiling about the eclipse again and I don't want to ruin it.
I thought the crescent projections were pretty neat, too. I wasn't expecting them, so was bowled over when I saw them throughout our mostly shady yard and deck. Not life-changing, but a great diversion from ordinary life. Have a great day, live and learn.
ReplyDeleteThe crescents were interesting, but I was so happy that I had the glasses. With just my eye and my safety glasses, what I saw was pretty close to the pictures I saw on the NASA website--a bright orange sun being eclipsed by a dark moon. I think it was even more exciting because we were never quite sure when the clouds would move so we could see it.
DeleteI loved the eclipse and we were decked out in our big nerd glasses to watch it, but I too am tired of having a celebrity endorsement on every single new item. To me this is part of the dumbing down of America. Why should anyone care what someone who is paid to "be someone else" care? I use my own noggin to decided what I think about things and I don't let someone with a tad of fame influence my thought processes.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
DeleteSadly, we had a lot of cloud cover and couldn't see anything, so we watched on tv. The tv coverage was frustrating ... one channel was going between the eclipse and the wedding of a couple who wanted to say their vows during the eclipse. Nice for them ... but really, I wasn't interested in viewing their wedding. At least the other channels had scientists giving input. We were also frustrated with how the eclipse was filmed--lots of panning in on the people partying during the eclipse (again ... not why we tuned in ...) and less of the perspective of the eclipse both close up and with a "from the ground view" of the sky. In 2024, it will be closer to us ... hopefully I can catch it then!
You know, I think Dolly Parton does the celebrity thing right. She tries very hard to make sure that no one knows what she thinks on any issue. She says that's not her job. Her job is entertainment. She does use her advantages to help others, but not to tell people that what she thinks or what they should think.
DeleteI know that there are other valid ideas on this subject, but I'm with Dolly on this one.
I was going to watch it also on TV, but didn't get around to it. Now, I'm glad that I didn't. I would have been going crazy if they kept cutting away to a wedding.
Delete2024, hmmmm, you may just a visitor then. :)
It would be fun to meet you in person! :) The next eclipse still won't be 100% here, but I think it will be in Toledo, OH--maybe 90 or 95% here?
DeleteI didn't know that about Dolly. I have always thought she had a lot of integrity--now there's something more to like about her. I don't mind celebrities having strong viewpoints, but sometimes I think they use their celebrity status as a platform to push their views on others. Then again, I have an ornery streak that keeps me from blindly accepting anything anybody tells me ...
I have mixed feelings about the eclipse. It was 92% here in Denver, and honestly I felt a bit underwhelmed. I couldn't find any glasses, mostly because I didn't try too hard since I got freaked out about the phony ones out there and didn't want to take any chances. But I made a pinhole camera, and it was fun to see all of the neighbors outside oohing and aahing over it all. I guess I expected it to get darker. Anyhow, I thought I'd totally missed the crescent shadow thing, but I just looked at the photos I shot and I guess I did see them after all. Not sure what I was expecting. I kept holding up my hand expecting to see some sort of crescent shadow - I think I thought it was the shadow that would make the crescent shape, not the sun between the shadows. Anyhow, when I looked at my photos of the weird shadows the leaves were casting, they do actually look like crescent moons. Hmmmm.....
ReplyDeleteWell anyhow, a lot of people here drove up to Wyoming or Nebraska to get into the path of totality, and all of them said it was amazing. CatMan and I thought about it but his back isn't behaving right now so we decided to skip it. Apparently the 10 hour traffic jam on the way home was even more awe inspiring than the eclipse itself!
Here's what a friend of mine wrote on FB about it - I think it sorta sums up how I'm feeling:
"I recognize the astronomical importance of today's eclipse, and that the moon will pass between the sun and the earth and so many people of all races, colors, creeds, national origins and sexual orientation will share equally in unexpected darkness for a bit, to see what that feels like.
I'd be far more impressed to see empathy and compassion come between greed and poverty so that a new light might shine equally on that same grand, diverse, wonderful human family and we would all, for at least a few hours, share equally in life's bounty to see what that feels like."
I wish you had had some glasses because I think they definitely made it for me. However, the whole glasses shortage was difficult. I work at a library that was giving them out. However, once we ran out of them, people wouldn't take no for an answer. I don't know where they thought the glasses would materialize from, but there were some pretty demanding and difficult people who wanted them. Some would say nasty.
DeleteYour friends quote is well said. It's an ideal that we can all strive for, but I don't think it's going to happen in a grand way. It's going to be helping one person at a time.
In our sermon Sunday, our pastor used an example of an African American man (I think he's an author but I can't remember his name or profession right now) who has purposely made friends with known Ku Klux members, asking them "how can you hate me if you don't even know me?". He has developed a good relationship with many, to the point that some Klansmen whom he has befriended have given up their hoods. Our pastor made a similar point to yours--we may not be able to make sweeping changes, but we can all try to make one connection at a time. It was a powerful example.
DeleteI love both of your points about one person at a time. Reminds me of the Margaret Mead quote: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
DeleteAll of these quotes and an examples have inspired me. I'm ready to go out and change the world one person at a time.
DeleteJune - Yep! Well said.
ReplyDeleteThanks. How much of an eclipse did you have where you are in California?
DeleteIt was about 60-65%. It was like a cloudy/hazy day but with the sun out.
DeleteGlad you got to watch the eclipse, Live and Learn. I didn't have any glasses, so made a pin hole viewer and was happy with that. It wasn't life changing for me, either, but I was glad I was able to watch what I could. :)
ReplyDeleteThe eclipse was not life changing, but it was interesting. I wonder what it would have been like if we had seen a total one.
DeleteI found the eclipse "interesting" but certainly not life-changing! Perhaps if I lived in an area where there was 100% coverage of the sun by the moon I'd feel differently.
ReplyDeleteI heard interviews with eclipse chasers who go around the world to experience total eclipses. Each time was like the first for them and they did find it life changing. While I'm definitely interested, I'm not in that group.
DeleteReally not an event here in WV. We had 90%. I do wish I had the glasses to check it out though. All I know for sure is the temperature dropped about 10 degrees! We watched the Weather Channel and saw the total eclipse in Oregon, North Carolina, etc. I thought I would die if someone said "totality" one more time.
ReplyDeleteWow! A ten degree drop in temperature. We didn't get that. I'm kind of glad that I experienced the eclipse without seeing it on TV. My experience was simple and interesting and I wasn't annoyed by whatever the commentators were saying. Before hand, I wanted to watch, but after the comments here, I am glad I didn't. I'm okay that I didn't see a total one while it was happening.
DeleteThe eclipse was an awesome and amazing experience. The edge of Knoxville, TN was in the totality path. Where we live we were not, so DH took a couple of hours off and we drove south west of town about 30-45 minutes to witness the phenomena which was well worth the traffic hassles coming home. I was not prepared but I did manage to score some eclipse glasses from Amazon at a ridiculous price but we have them to reuse another time. Next time I hope to get an appropriate lens for either my iPhone or camera to capture it the event digitally. It got completely dark for 2 minutes and 30 seconds where we were. The nightly critters began singing their songs. The temperature did drop but it wasn't 10 degrees as the media reported nor did we see stars or encounter any animals gone wild. I'm glad we got to be a part of it all! Thanks for visiting. I plan to do more browsing around your site but I have to get ready for my follow-up appointment with my dentist today. See ya later! ;)
ReplyDeleteTotal darkness. Now that would have been something. We just got dark like a storm was coming or it was dusk. Good luck at your dentist appointment.
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