Watching the eclipse on a ship in the Mediterranean Sea 2006.
Today I had a manicure in black and silver in honor of the total eclipse of the sun that will occur on Monday, August 21. Later I ordered five eclipse t-shirts designed by a friend! I am getting excited! Just five more days to the eclipse!
I remember when I went on my first Eclipse trip in 1998 to see the eclipse on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. Little did I know then that seeing an eclipse would take me to Austria, Hungary, Greece and Turkey and now the USA.
During the eclipse in 1999 in Europe, I found out about the eclipse on August 21, 2017. I thought it was so far away. And I would be so OLD…62. I was not sure I could even think of an eclipse so far in the distant future. But here it is. I am 62. I will see it. 18 years went very quickly.
This will actually be my fifth total eclipse. The first one I accidentally saw was on the East Coast when I was a teenager on March 7, 1970. I remember being told not to look at the sun. I do remember it getting dark. But I honestly do not remember much of that celestial event.
My next three viewings of total eclipses were well thought out by my husband. Although he is a physician now, he spent his high school career determined to be an astrophysicist. He even studied at Cal Tech for the first two years of college. Although he totally changed his major, he never lost his love of the universe. (I wrote about this in an earlier blog, see link below.)
On our first date, as we walked across the campus at the University of Missouri, he pointed out constellations in the night sky. This love of stars is contagious. I soon fell under the eclipse spell.
I have seen eclipse on land and in the ocean.
I cannot explain the magic that occurs as you see the moon shadow racing towards you as darkness overcomes daylight.
I cannot describe the beautiful red, orange, gold, yellow, white splashes of light the pour forth from the corona of a total eclipse.
To see the spurts and flourishes of the sun’s plasma as it shoots into the sky.
A vision you cannot normally see due to the brightness of the sun.
But now can look directly into the dark circle and see the stunning displays of light.
I cannot wait until Monday when we once again will stand in the darkness of an totally eclipsed sun! We plan to be with our umbraphile friends in Wyoming as we stand in awe during the eclipse.
My husband and I have vowed to take no photos during the eclipse. Let the experts do that. Instead we will look skyward and enjoy the spectacular joy of an eclipse.
Umbraphile: definition: one who loves eclipses
https://zicharonot.wordpress.com/2014/06/29/spaceastronomy-and-the-first-walk-on-the-moon/
zicharonot 
Umbraphile—that’s a new one for me! And I guess I am not one. I will stay in the Northeast where I don’t think we will see much of an eclipse, and I will probably keep my eyes closed! I will wait for those experts’ photos also! 🙂
No eclipse in the Northeast! I will post some photos of the crowds.
I look forward to seeing them—without any risk of damaging my already near-sighted, far-sighted, and astigmatized eyes! 🙂
We are very careful!
Hmmm, I just checked this site and learned that in fact we will have a partial eclipse here. I guess I’d better make sure we aren’t sitting on the beach looking west at that time. http://amp.timeinc.net/time/4882923/total-solar-eclipse-map-places-view/?source=dam
Yes the partial is a much larger area. The problem here is at 99.4 percent people think it is safe. And it is not.
I know. Now I have to find some glasses.
Make sure they are real. Welders glass is the best but you need a dark one. We actually use welders goggles.
The eclipse was 90% for us, very cool, but not nearly as cool as totality (or so it sounds). My favorite were the strange eclipse shaped shadows through the leaves of the trees.
Yes those are so near. You can make them appear through your fingers as well by interlocking them.