Total Eclipse

As most in North America know, we had the opportunity to witness a solar eclipse this week. Where I live, I wasn't in the path of totality but was in the partial eclipse area. At first, I thought that's okay we'll see something right? Well yes and no, without glasses you won't see much at all, if you're close to totality the light will change, and the temperature will drop but you won't see much at all. I'm sure am glad that I drove down to see the totality. It was awesome!

I was going to go to a campground that's pretty much straight south of me on the St Lawrence River called Riverside-Cedar but they had it gated off right at the highway so you couldn't get into the entrance parking lot. I had left home with plenty of time, so I decided to drive somewhat further east to the Long Sault Parkway, thinking I'd be able to park along the parkway. Nope, they had that blocked off too, but you were allowed to park and walk in and onto the parkway. I got one of the last parking spots as before finding a spot I decided to walk the dogs and when I got back to get my chair and jacket they were turning people away.

Just a word about dogs as so many posts said to leave them at home and to even close the drapes or shades so they wouldn't get anxious. Teddy and Liam didn't even seem to notice. They laid relaxed by me most of the time. The only thing that got Teddy excited was going in the water and cookies. During the totality they did start to bark but only because another dog was barking. I think if your dog showed anxiety, it would be because you took them to a crowded, noisy location.

Not looking at the sun!

The next thing that surprised me is that the sun is so bright, you never actually see the moon. When the eclipse started, that is when there was just a little bite out of the sun, I hadn't seen the moon at all. Even with the glasses all you see is a black shape in front of the sun. It's no wonder that primitive people thought perhaps the world was ending. As we got closer to totality, the light changed, and it started getting cool. I was glad to have the jacket to put on over my fleece.  Birds that had been warbling away, were now quiet. 

With just my cell phone camera I couldn't get any good shots. I tried with the glasses held up to the lens but all I got was a less brilliant sun. This shot was taken when we were getting pretty close to totality over 90%.

I hoped I would get a picture of the corona but even then, the cell phone camera just doesn't cut it. And I was so awed at the totality that I didn't think of zooming in or trying video. Totality was so cool, everyone cheered or oohed and awed. Not sure I saw Bailey's Beads, but I did see the Diamond Ring. That was spectacular. It's shortly after that you have to start wearing the glasses again. In the first picture below, you can just make out the moon if you enlarge the photo.

Cell phone picture of totality

Sunset in the afternoon, looking towards the Southeast

These next pictures were taken by a friend, who is a photographer and has good camera equipment. She was somewhere further east of where I was but like me was very close to the St Lawrence River.

It was magical, eerie, fantastic all at the same time, no picture you see will give you the same impression as being there. If you ever have the chance to see a total eclipse, it is certainly well worth the trip. 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Fire and Ice

Well, not too much to blog about while we're under a Stay-At-Home order especially now that we've gotten more snow and temperatures have dropped.

I've been trying to eat better and not have processed food so I've been finding simple recipes but ones that are still tasty and sometimes even somewhat elegant.  One recipe that I had intended to make while camping last summer was Sambucca Shrimp, but I forgot the shrimp.  I made it again just this month and this time I was ready to video when I flambeed the shrimp.

You can have this as an appetizer with crusty bread or as a meal served over rice or pasta. I'm trying to do low carb meals so I had it over steamed cauliflower.

I'm not a crafty person and other than agility I don't really have any hobbies so keeping busy has been a bit hard and I have to say I've been lacking motivation too. Yesterday, however I came across a blog about ice suncatchers and I thought that's something I could easily do. So I did. I cut a couple tips from the pine swag at the front steps, some berries from the Burning bush out front and gathered some cedar tips that had broken off when we got the heavy snow last week. I went through the plastic bin I have of Christmas decoration from various wreaths and swags and got some fake berries and a piece of ribbon.  All I had to do was put them in a pie plate with a little bit of arrangement, then poured boiling water into the pie plate. A friend had suggested boiling the water so it would be clear; I don't know if it helped or not but it sure made things smell nice. I added bird seed (the black and white bits) at the end, I'm hoping the birds will find them and enjoy it.

The shot glass was an idea to make a hole that I got from a blog about making ice suncatchers. The blog said to use a plastic glass and to weight it down, I thought the shot glass would be heavy enough that I didn't have to weight it down. It wasn't; so when I took it out, I had to chip out the ice underneath to make a hole for the ribbon. I put the whole thing outside overnight to freeze. 

You don't need to grease the pie plate or use plastic wrap, the ice sun catcher will come out of the pie plate. You just need to bring it in where it's warm and let it melt a bit. I had to wait about half an hour before it would come out.

I threaded through the ribbon and then hung it outside so it wouldn't melt while I got dressed this morning.  Then I went out and hung it in a tree where I can see it from my family room. It's so cold today that I couldn't get it as high as I would like it. My fingers were freezing just in the time it took to tie the bow.

This would be quite a fun craft to do with kids, just gather leaves, small evergreen bows, berries, nuts and other things. One blogger used grapes and orange pieces for colour. 

Anyway it was something fun to do, didn't take long, wasn't hard at all and it's pretty to look at.

Stay safe, stay home!

My B-day!

Well it's not Keltic's birthday nor Beckett's, it's mine. And I got what I asked for for my birthday, a nice sunny day. It's been so depressing lately, snow and grey skies for what seems like months, well a couple weeks anyway. At this time of year, you start to hope for some nice days.

I had hoped to sleep in but Keltic was up at 6 am, I went downstairs to let them out and hoped to get another few winks. But Keltic was in and out and in and out, finally I got up, had a shower and made breakfast; it was 7:30 am.

After breakfast, I took myself out on a little shopping spree. I got Game of Thrones, Season 2 that I've been wanting ever since I watched season 1 in one afternoon. I bought Hunger Games too, I've already seen it in the theatre but it's a good movie.  I also bought sandals. A little early to wear those yet but the style is called Helen so I just had to get them. I also bought a pair of dress slacks and top. And lastly, I got a pair of exercise pants; I've been looking for something lighter than jeans to wear when running agility.

After my little shopping trip, I came home and took Beckett and Keltic to the park and afterwards we played in the back yard for awhile.

I had lots of birthday wishes from friends and family and my youngest sister surprised me with a gift certificate for Cineplex theatres. We don't usually do birthday gifts between us any more.

Now I'm having a nice quiet evening. Tomorrow another my sisters and her family are having me over for dinner so my birthday gets extended just a little bit longer.  All in all it's been a very good day and a good birthday.

Oh and Happy International Women's Day!