ECLIPSE!

DH and I took today off. It's been a busy, busy year, and we're already a quarter and change through 2024. And today, our little town was almost smack dab in the middle of eclipse totality.

I've seen partial eclipses in person, and I've seen picture of full eclipses, but nothing prepared me for a full in-person eclipse.

We moved our front porch bench out into the front yard before we grabbed our eclipse glasses, DH's binoculars, and Princess Bella. The neighbors on our side of the street did similar things with their seats, equipment, and pets. Folks on the opposite side of the street were in their back yards. Local schools cancelled classes, so all the kids in the neighborhood had a grand time since our weather was damn near perfect--70 degrees, a scattering of cirrus clouds, and no rain.

Princess Bella was only confused about why we were sitting outside instead of relaxing on our recliner couch. The birds and crickets were like, "Whoa! That was a short day."

The drop in temperature and the darkness I expected. We were lucky enough to see Bailey's Beads and the diamond ring effect. What I didn't expect was my bionic lenses creating a blue diamond shape in the middle of the moon. There's a halo effect created by multifocal lenses. I've had them long enough my brain edits out the effect, but this was new so my brain latched onto the blue diamond.

The picture above is the only really good shot I captured. The neighbors' security lights and the street lights had just kicked on, and you can see the edge of the moon's shadow via the cirrus clouds just above the treeline.

At the moment of totality, a cheer erupted from the neighborhood kids, followed by a dull roar of voices from all the spectators in town.

Like I said, pictures can't replicate the thrill at seeing an eclipse in person.