How fortunate am I to have been able to watch the Great American Solar Eclipse from my very own yard!
A while back, I was going to start making posting photos of the moon a thing, since I obtained a camera with the ability to do so in some detail. I’ve still been taking moon photos — in fact, I took one of this really cool moon last month:
I’ve fallen behind with posting a lot of things here lately, but I absolutely cannot wait to share this. It was an experience that was otherworldly, rare, beautiful, and to be experienced without hesitation.
I have to admit that I was filled with trepidation throughout the experience at first. As Nashville is wont to do, the weather changed drastically in the space of a few minutes, thick clouds materializing in the sky over my house around 1pm, very close to the time of totality. In fact, they kept rolling in, giving us few glimpses of the shrinking sliver of celestial brightness between cover.
However, just as another great cloud was about to roll over the entirety of totality, it evaporated! Great Providence! It was as if nothing had been there at all, and the sky granted me and my mother with the sight of a black sun against an inky backdrop — with a little view of Venus off to the side.
The experience was all-too brief, especially with me having forgotten to pre-set my camera to the appropriate modes. I certainly got an eyeful, however. Nothing compares to seeing the eclipse in person. The soft undulation of the sun’s corona made me want to stare for hours — and I would, if I could.
Favorite parts
- Totality, of course — how mystical!
- The diamond ring effect (beautiful but difficult to look at / photograph)
- The above crescent shapes in shadows
- Knowing millions were seeing the same thing
The whole thing seemed to be over quickly, the sun growing back as quickly as it had shrunken. It was hard to return to work with such an event having just occurred right above my head, yet I could with a revitalized passion for this natural world and my own place in it.
