Solar Eclipse

Not a lick of sewing was accomplished on this day. Instead, I have tried to make a memorable day of watching the eclipse. The time I spent outdoors became noticeably cooler. The birds seemed to chirp less, while the cicadas shrieked just as loudly as ever. The level of darkness is a bit more difficult to describe. It was darker, but it was a different sort of darkness than when dusk is approaching. My husband said it was more like we'd lowered the wattage - like switching out a 100-watt bulb for a 40-watt bulb. That seems quite an appropriate explanation of how it looked at the darkest part of our eclipse.

The media hype certainly reached incredible levels, and whether that's a good thing or not, I sure did have fun watching it this afternoon. Here in Ohio the coverage was partial, but I could still see it with my basic devices and have a few fun pics to share of the momentous event.

Above, you see my very low-tech eclipse viewing box. It took all of about 5 minutes to create it, and I found that it worked exactly as described on the instructional videos I watched. I carried it out to the front yard and enjoyed the 2-hour event from the comfort of a reclining lawn chair.

The shoe box viewer wasn't the only way to see the eclipse. The picture above is from a device I made using card-stock with foil and a pinprick. The reflection is on the white arm of my lawn chair. Not the clearest pic, but you can see the crescent shape.

And finally, I tried the selfie pic on my phone. The actual sun is just a big bright ball of fire in the sky, but look at the tiny reflections - I do not know what caused this to occur, but with every shot I took using the selfie setting, I had a mini eclipse reflecting below the sun. That is pretty awesome.

I have seen so many much more amazing pictures on the inter-webs. What I missed out on in fancy camera shots, however, I made up for in trying to have as much fun with the event as I could (in my own dorky way). I wish I'd had some welder's shades and some eclipse glasses. Maybe next time. I also wish I'd walked out to the woods to see the crescent shapes through the tree leaves. Some of the pictures look really amazing.

Back to quilting pics tomorrow - promise!

Happy Quilting, Friends!