Ahead of time, I steamed green beans and popped corn. I dug up some old but still good D batteries and got the boombox outside so we could hear the classical station play sun and moon music (e.g., Clair de Lune, the Moonlight Sonata, Helios Overture - even Holst's The Planets).
The party started at 1:25 and ended at four, which is when it all happened. Our friend conveniently brought eclipse glasses, but my brother had made a viewing box just in case. Dolly also attended. (of course)
First, we had snacks. Izze Blackberry carbonated fruit drink and ranch-flavored popcorn (idea courtesy of Magnolia Journal). The moon was going to cover one third of the sun; it was hot, humid and partly cloudy, but nothing that would obscure our view of the sixty seven per cent eclipse. I was pleased that even though the weatherman said the temperature wouldn't drop, it felt much better to me for much of the event, and only hot again when it was over. But it's funny that if you didn't know an eclipse was happening, you might well have missed it. It was just a matter of there being less sun, but clouds were coming and going anyway. My brother thought the light on the bridge looked artificial.
You tell me; I don't know, but he looks at things with an artist's eye, and I just look at them (and not too keenly at that). Anyway, we then had a big pasta salad with marinated artichokes, green beans, cucumber and black olives, with garden tomato on the side.
A sunny area across the brook:
You'd think, with two thirds of the sun covered, that it would have been darker than this. But anyway, it was nice that it happened on my day off, and nice that we got to experience it.
Afterward we had ice cream.
Here, I couldn't see the sun because of the overcast sky. But at the peak of the 80% eclipse in our area, the sky was definitely darker and colder. Your picnic was stellar!! :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you - I do love to sit outside!
DeleteWhen I enlarged the bridge photo, the light did look slightly eerie. And photos are never as good as the real thing. Sometimes I see some beautiful skies, but when I take a photo it just looks 'ordinary'.
ReplyDeleteThe ice cream sounds good :) xx
I'm glad you could see it! We were talking about that at work today, that it looked different. (and I agree with you about the skies, but you sure got a good one last week) :)
DeleteWe had a partial eclipse here a couple of years ago but it was so cloudy we hardly noticed it! I think your brother is right in his description of the light. When we had a total eclipse about 19 years ago I remember the strange light when the sun was half covered. Nearer to the full eclipse shadows started to look really weird! Leaves cast multiple shadows so the ground under the trees was patterned. I love your outdoor eclipse party! What a great idea!
ReplyDeleteI vaguely remember a total eclipse years ago, and it creeped me out. The birds got quiet and everything was still. Your description of the leaf shadows sounds intriguing, though!
DeleteI'm glad you made a thing of it. A picnic seems such a good idea. I was on my own for our partial eclipse a couple of years back and I so wanted to share it with others. When we had our last total eclipse, we travelled down to Devon and watched it from the cliffs. Fabulous to experience. We could smell the honeysuckle in the hedges and watch the birds flying home to roost. We were high up above the sea and you could see the shadow move across the water. I wish we had taken a picnic. Stuck in a traffic jam most of the way home!
ReplyDeleteYour cliff-view description of the eclipse sounds ideal, Cheryl!
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