Hi everyone,
Who knew our little town of about 25,000 people would draw 200,000 to 300,000 visitors from out of town? That’s what our city officials said… I stayed away from town since getting home last night from a dinner. There was no way I was heading into town today.
I read where hotel rooms soared to $1000 a night at a Super 8 and $1400 on Monday morning for the last 2 rooms at the Hampton by Hilton.
Did you see it, the Carbondale Terriers, (my high school) made it on Good Morning America. Well, the cheerleaders and 40 other people did…
People were camped out on the hill by the Football stadium… just waiting…
There was lots going on in town, but we were too “smart” to investigate it… I’ll just take the news’ word for it.
When we woke up, it looked like it was going to be a wonderful day… sunny, and warm and breezy, and beautiful blue skies! No clouds either.
When it got closer to the time the eclipse was supposed to happen, we got some lawn chairs from the gazebo and parked ourselves in them, along with Reuben, and prepared to watch the skies. We had our protective eclipse glasses in hand and just waited for things to start happening.
I thought I would just take pictures of how things changed on the ground, mostly… as I don’t have a super expensive phone to take fabulous pictures, or a telescope…
It was just your typical sunny day…
A friend wanted to know if the hens would roost when the skies went dark… I told her I’d keep an eye on them…
The moon began moving in front of the sun and the shadows started to show more. The breeze stopped blowing… and it became very still. Almost eerily still… and then we heard crickets start to chirp and I even heard 2 different bullfrogs croaking…
During the first part of the eclipse happening, you could notice a difference in the look of the area… almost hazy like and very calm. We noticed it was just a little bit cooler… or it seemed like it was…
Then it started getting dark very quickly…and as we looked into our glasses, the sun was almost covered up…
What caught me off guard the most, was HOW much sunlight was still in the yard, even when there was just a sliver of the sun showing behind the moon. The sun was almost covered up, and yet it was still bright in the yard and the sky.
Then it got really dark very very quickly…
The darkness lasted 4 minutes and 9 seconds NASA said. They were set up in the Football Stadium at the University.
Then it had passed to the other side and the sun was beginning to peek out…
When it started getting light again, the crickets stopped chirping, there were LOTS of birds singing and wind started being breezy again.
And before we knew it was over… just like that. The chickens didn’t go in and roost when it became dark… because it didn’t last long enough for them to know what had happened, I guess. When I walked to the pen, they raced over to see if I had brought them something…
Laura sent me some pictures of what it looked like in Ohio…
Hi Jeanne,
I thought I’d share a few photos of the solar eclipse today. We were in the path of totality and it was a perfect day – clear skies and in the upper 60s. Our neighbors and we enjoyed the show cheering and applauding as the corona appeared.
Here are four of my photos. First is just a close up at totality.
In the second, if you look down to the right about 18 inches at 5:00 you can see the North Star also in that photo.
The next one is the second the moon slipped slightly away from the sun again.
The last one was with eclipse glasses in front of the lens. I thought it worked better without the glasses even though the moon image is lighter.
It was absolutely spectacular!
Blessings,
Laura
Thank you Laura,
Your pictures were great…
Thanks everyone,
Now back to normal days,
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
So interesting to see everyone’s pictures of the eclipse!! It’s been a few years since we’ve had one out our way (Seattle area) and today we had our regular cloudy skies today. Plus I think they said we only got about 20% of the eclipse, so I didn’t pay any attention to it. Nothing to see up here!
Jeanne, did they x-ray your hand, and what did it show? Will it require some sort of treatment or even surgery in the future? If so, please don’t put it off! We want your hand to get back to normal as quickly as possible!
What wonderful pictures of the eclipse from both you and Laura! We sat outside and it seemed like nothing was happening for quite awhile, but then close to 2:00, things changed quickly. It did get dark here, but it seemed not as dark as the one we had in 2017, but that was 100% totality, and we had only 99% yesterday. What a difference 1% makes!! We live close to Interstate 55, and it was jammed all day, with people going south, and then afterwards going north. No way to get on that and get anywhere! On TV, they were interviewing people who came to the little town of Poplar Bluff, Mo. from India and Australia! Unbelievable!
Thank you Jeanne and Laura
I was in Northern Virginia and we were supposed to get 88% but really it was not worth watching it from my home. I looked at the tv and sewed
Nasa had a great set up at all of their chosen key locations
It was pretty cool and yes, they included Carbondale
Jeanne, Your photos and descriptions were great! Thanks so much! And Laura’s too. We had only 74% here and I didn’t bother other than checking to see if it got darker but didn’t see that happening. We didn’t have the glasses. When I was teaching school years ago we watched one and the kids and I made the paper pinhole things. They really worked.
That is interesting that you heard the crickets chirping and the bullfrogs croaking! I think it is amazing how much attention the eclipse was getting. Here, with a welder’s shield, I couldn’t see the moon at all. A little while later though, the sky looked like dusk. My brother got some nice shots of it in Minnesota, although it was cloudy. Nice pictures, Laura!
I’m so glad Jeanne and George were able to view the eclipse. Fun photos too. I did the pinhole in paper viewing technique and could see the microscopic missing sliver of the sun. Much better though watching totality on tv and seeing Carbondale and all of the hoopla. What a fun day Laura must have enjoyed. Great photos and that one through the eclipse glasses is amazing. After the fact, I discovered that there were free glasses in doll sizes available to print. The dollies would have loved those.
Thanks for sharing the pics Jeanne and Laura.
Great pictures Jeanne and Laura! We not only had overcast skies here we had rain and they kept predicting storms around the time of the eclipse so it was pretty much a washout here for the most part. Very disappointing for many I’m sure because some of the schools had prepared for the kids to experience the event. Mostly what happened here is the dark skies got darker and then lighter. Not much different than a storm passing through, which we actually never got. Just a lot of gloom and some rain. If it would have been sunny we would have done what we did in Colorado in 2017. We stood under a tree and where the sun came between the leaves the ground showed tons of tiny eclipses. It was pretty amazing.
Still gloomy here today and warm and humid.
Hi Barbara,
We did the same thing for a partial eclipse back in the 90s. After looking at the sun we stood under a tree and saw all the half moons. It was just beautiful.
Yes, we really enjoyed the day here. We have neighbors we have known for decades. Everyone was camped out in their front yards to view things. Some chose to have picnics as in was so warm. It definitely got a bit colder those last few minutes before totality. The birds were singing their nighttime songs and then fell silent. We heard a bit of the night creatures (spring peepers) briefly. At totality we all cheered and clapped.
I haven’t posted lately, I have a wedding to go to this Friday and been busy making the cake. Just letting you know that I saw Carbondale on TV last night when they showed the path of the eclipse. Amazing pictures both of you. We will get one in four years time apparently but no idea whether it will pass over Christchurch or not.