OK... We weren't able to fly to Illinois for the total solar eclipse this time. Sigh... Yes, we were rather disappointed.
However, Hawaii was supposed to get 20 - 30%. So were we going to mope about it? Of course not. We'll play with what we got.
The first thing was to plan how we could experience it... a little. I didn't have our eclipse viewing lens from 1991 because I'd mailed it to our daughter and family in Chicago. I then heard that you shouldn't use old eclipse glasses because it probably deteriorated. Ummm... I guess 30 year old eclipse lens might be too old.
Anyway, Tiffany was able to get new viewing glasses from the public library.
So what should we do? Art had read that fanning your fingers over each other would give you spaces from which you could see a shadow of the eclipse. I remembered how we saw the eclipse patterns in Kona (1991) and Missouri (2017) on the ground as light filtered down from the leaves on the trees. So I punched holes in a sheet of paper and tested it out. Meh! Not great...
Meanwhile I explained to mom about how we were going to experience the eclipse. I asked her how you say eclipse in Japanese.
Interesting...
I guess "eating the day" would make sense.
Our next step was to punch holes in the paperboard of a cereal box that we happened to have.
At a little past 7:12 AM, we saw the moon covering about 20% of the sun.
This was fun.
I texted our daughter who texted our son-in-law to ask if he might have time to take a photo while wearing the new eclipse glasses that Tif got and covering his cellphone camera lens using the old eclipse viewing cards we'd sent them.
He kindly texted me a couple of photos. This is probably close to that 92% they were promised in Chicago.
She couldn't take a good photo of the eclipse itself because she only had her new eclipse glasses and nothing to put over her iPhone lens.
Tif says there were some people out there who were expecting totality and were upset that there was all this hype and they didn't experience total darkness.
Ah well... 😏
On her way back to work, she stopped to take this photo of eclipse patterns on the stairs for me. You can see just how close to totality Chicago was.
Blogger Cathy in Australia said there would be another total solar eclipse on July 22, 2028 in Australia. Maybe we can see that one? 😂😁
Thanks for sharing your experience Kay. Toronto had so much cloud I just had a vague glimpse or 2 and bright sunshine the next day wouldn't you know? -Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteWe had low clouds over the mountain which thankfully cleared up in time. We were lucky.
DeleteI love the photo of all the punched holes showing the sun being covered by the moon.
ReplyDeleteI was really disappointed that we didn't experience any of the crescent shapes here. Not sure why but one theory was because of the high wispy clouds we had.
ReplyDeleteOh darn! I'm sorry, Marcia. That's bummers.
DeleteAt least with my eclipse glasses, they just barely fit over all the lenses of my iphone allowing me to take a picture. The harder part was figuring out how to take the picture where I wasn't being blinded by the sun. I finally figured out how. I would put my glasses on and look over my roof at the eclipsed sun. I would then walk toward the house until the gutter just blocked the sun from my view. I would then take off my glasses, put them over the lens of my iphone and hold it up just over my head which was still in the shade. This allowed me to see the screen of the phone and get everything lined up to take a picture. I'm not sure I would have been able to take my pictures just standing out in the open with nothing shading my face.
ReplyDeleteArt is very impressed with your ingenuity and takes his hat off to you. I showed him your comment and he had to demonstrate to me what you did. I need to show him your photos. He'll love it!
DeleteI had not picked up glasses to view so my friend brought over his welding hat and I got to look. It was about over but still exciting.
ReplyDeleteYou were more organized than we were.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that I remember most about the eclipse in 2017 was standing under the maple tree in the front yard and being surrounded by images of the eclipse. They were everywhere. I used a colander to entertain the neighbors as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your eclipse day with us all Kay. Aloha from townside!
ReplyDeleteahhh I was waiting for the eclipse but totally forgot the next day so I missed it. so disappointing T_T but thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteOuch! I'm sorry, Kim.
DeleteKay, we saw the eclipse in it's totality and it was awesome! It went dark and our streetlights came on...
ReplyDeleteYay! I'm so very HAPPY for you, Rian. This is so cool. I know what a wonderful experience it is.
DeleteThe use of the paper was so cool!!!
ReplyDeleteWe had the absolutely perfect day here in NE Ohio, for totality. It was awesome.
ReplyDeleteYay! I wish we were in Ohio for it too.
DeleteWe had eighty something here in Greenville SC. I had fun watching it
ReplyDeleteWe are in California with our son, and the eclipse on April 8 wasn’t a total one here, so not that exciting. But what was interesting was your comment, Kay, about the eclipse being called “eating the day” in Japanese. It is almost what we call the eclipse in Marathi, our language here in the state of Maharashtra in India. We call the solar eclipse “eating the sun”, and the lunar eclipse “eating the moon”….now how interesting is that similarity with Japanese??!!
ReplyDeleteActually it kind of makes sense since it looks like something is eating the sun. This is so cool. Thank you Asha! Have fun in California!
DeleteBy the way, Kay, we had a wonderful trip of Japan and I was awe-stricken by the Sakura, and greatly impressed by the people - their discipline, their cleanliness, their humility, their honesty, and above all, their love and pride for their country.❤️❤️
DeleteThank you for the report, Kay. Another explanation about 日食. The meaning of 日 is the “sun” as well as “day”. So, it literally means “the sun eaten by the moon.” How I’d like to see the diamond ring effect when the sun was eaten up totally!
ReplyDeleteYoko
It wasn't visible in my part of the UK but it was enjoyable seeing the television reports and photographs about it.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
What a fun day it was!
ReplyDeleteI loved hearing about all the people who saw totality. I never have, and we had only 20% and heavy clouds. It was just another day. I did watch it happen on TV.
ReplyDeleteEating the day is a great expression! We had 100% in Austin and it was amazing--even though the clouds came through off and on.
ReplyDeleteThat’s all very interesting, thanks Kay!
ReplyDeleteSo interesting.
ReplyDeletewww.rsrue.blogspot.com
I found it fun! I planned, but we had clouds shortly after it began. Our Ottawa kids drove a couple hours and had a blast!
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