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I'm right in path of totality, Clemson, SC.  But I don't have those glasses. I waited too late to try to get them.

 

I'm in a local library where they will begin giving some away at 1 p.m. people have been lining up since 9:00!  I refuse to wait in a line that long for anything short of something that will save my life.  I'll get on the line around 12:30 and hope for the best...

 

Since I'm in the path, I can look at the total eclipse without eye protection.

 

The weather looks perfect so far.

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My daughter had to finally ended up purchasing eclipse glasses after thousands showed up at Adler Planetarium in Chicago to get them for free and they ran out.  These little cardboard glasses cost $5.00, and for me were a total waste of money.  I couldn't distinguish anything through them, so i finally just put on my prescription sun glasses and they did just fine. No glare, no problem. 

 

i was discouraged that the day started out overcast but  was pleasantly surprised later while standing barefoot in the grass so as to connect with the earth during this phenomenon. Although the rest of the sky was grey, the sun blazed amidst the clouds for all to see. I didn't stare at it, i  would just take a glance every few seconds  to keep up with its progress which, when i squinted, was crystal clear to me.  So i saw all that was visible in the Chicago land area where "ol sol"  was about 98 percent eclipsed, leaving just a toe nail sliver of  sunshine available.  It didn't get very dark here, just dim.   I think this event was so hyped, that some people were disappointed because it wasn't as spectacular as they expected it to be but, for me, i saw what i saw, and it was, indeed, a solar eclipse, and my spirit was renewed thanks to this belated 84th birthday present from Mother Earth, enabled by Father Time. I'm a child of the universe!

 

As an aside, The village crew who came to prune our tree  a couple of weeks ago, got carried away and decided to cut the whole tree down much to my anger when i stuck my head out the door to check on them and was shocked when i saw the tree was gone!  i chewed them out for cutting down the whole  tree which only needed to have the dead branches lopped off but they sheepishly mumbled some excuses and skulked away after feeding the logs and limbs to the wood chipper.  I was furious! Trees are special and you just don't cut one down on a whim.  I tried to count the rings in the stump they left but there were so many i gave up.  This tree had been around a looong time and i felt a kinship with it.  So during the eclipse, I also went and stood barefoot on the stump  and promised the tree i would try and live out its life for it.  I guess I'm' a Pantheist, among other things. 

 

Starting yesterday, things began to turn around for me as predicted by eclipse soothsayers.  I almost slit my wrists when it appeared my computer crashed after i clicked onto a sight that i was immediately informed picked up viruses that micro soft wouldn't allow me to spread. Everything was frozen including my mouse, and a phone number appeared on screen for me to call to remedy this disaster.  i figured it was hacked so i shut down the computer,  and had a long conversation with it telling it how much i appreciated it, promising to be a good user  and if it would just resurrect itself, i would  down load all of my files, documents, manuscripts, photos and saved mail into a flash drive so i would not suffer a nervous breakdown.   After i shut my computer down and turned it back on 3 more times, the black screen finally started to pulse with life and it gradually re-booted itself and came back to life, none the worse for wear.  Then my printer wouldn't work but i finally discovered one cable was missing and after combing my work-space with a fine toothed comb, i found it hiding under the desk.  Today i lost the empty bottle necessary to get my  blood pressure  prescription re-filled. i searched  high and low, disgusted  and frustrated, undoubtedly raising my blood pressure.  Finally i checked my purse one more time and there the little empty bottle was hidden, in full view.  SMH

 

I had a tarot card reading on my birthday.  It was interesting and fairly accurate  in regard to certain things.  When it came to the phase where i was supposed to ask questions and draw cards from which the "answer" could be discerned  by the reader,  i couldn't think of any questions to ask because there' was nothing i didn't think i already knew or was interested in finding out about.  Needless to say, the  reader found me a little peculiar but she said she saw that in the cards. i finally just asked questions about my kids.

 

Sorry, i got carried away. 

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I got gypped!

 

Del, I'm not disappointed that I made the trek, but i was not nearly the event I expected it to be.

 

First I'm glad I got the glasses.  I actually moved a small table and chair and worked on my website while waiting in line.  While the moon took progressively larger and larger bites out of the sun it was still quote bright outside.  If I did not have the glasses I would not have been able to see any of this.  In fact, by the time I got settled and looked up at the eclipse it was well under way. Even when the Sun was almost completely blocked by the moon, you needed the glasses to look at it.  

 

Now here is when I got gypped.  At the instance of totality a cloud blocked the event!  I took my glasses off saw the ring ring around the Sun and then it disappeared behind a cloud!

 

It never got as dark as I expected.  I was like dusk.  I could see Sirius and it did look like the sun had dropped behind the horizon in all directions.  But this was not something pronounced and I would not have noticed this unless I knew to look for it.   The temperature dropped quite a bit, but that was it.

 

It was not a life altering event that way it was for so many.  

 

The images below is of my car when the sun was eclipsed at least 35% the photo on the right was during totality.  Again at this point the sun was obscured by both the moon and clouds :-(  This shot was taken in Clemson SC, not too far from the university right on the path of totality.

 

before_and_after_eclipse.jpg

 

The next eclipse falls on my birthday in 2024.   I'll probably travel to that one too. ;-)

 

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