A brief but burning desire

It was a profound experience.

After the eclipse, I saw news photos of people -- thousands of them -- at a thrown-together hippie festival in Oregon which had gone on for days, raising both hands to the sun.

I had to laugh. What does that even mean?

I will worship the Creator and never the creation.

But, like most humans, I love nature and am inspired by it daily.

The sight -- together with the urgent sounds and a breathless sensation in the oddly altered air -- of the total solar eclipse was one I will never forget.

It was just short enough to make its memory a singular treasure and just long enough to make its occurrence a distinct privilege.

As the hour approached for totality, we began looking through our eclipse shades to see the encroaching lunar black bite upon the unblinking solar surface.

There was an ominous quality that made the whole thing more exciting. We knew the moon would briefly star in a pseudo-disappearing act before the sun showed who was boss once more.

We watched the clock. Zero hour was to be two forty-one; by two thirty-five it was obvious that something extraordinary was taking place.

The landscape took on a one-dimensional attitude as the thin shadows grew longer.

It was an extremely hot day; our temperatures didn't plummet so much as relax, for five minutes or so on either side of totality.

Then the solar lights that ring our pool and decorate its planters and accent pieces, popped on all at once.

I looked through my glasses. Only the slimmest silver sliver of sun remained to be seen. A glowing curved thread.

It was cloudy; we audibly moaned and groaned. This would be an issue in the wholly temporary time-sensitive situation.

I was wearing a short dress. Mosquitoes which congregate somewhere -- who knows where -- in broad daylight, waiting for their dark playtime to commence, came out in swarms and began to feast on my skinny bare legs.

I've long suspected that the bloodthirsty opportunistic varmints have plastered my likeness on WANTED posters all over Skeeter Town.

Normally if I'm outside at that time of day, I'm partially submerged in the pool and I've slathered my face and shoulders with Skin So Soft, the scent of which mosquitoes mostly avoid.

The cicadas had begun screaming madly, in concert as though they'd been informed there was to be no tomorrow, the way they perform at deepest summer twilight just before nighttime when they shut up altogether.

Then: Totality. The light was almost-but-not-quite extinguished. We could barely see the corona through the clouds.

I ripped off those shades, took aim, and started taking pictures. I'm an amateur; I used my zoomiest zoom lens and no tripod. I just wanted to get something to remember it by.

Because it seemed like a dream, an exquisite suspension of time.

At the end, the unique moment having passed into history and the fiery solar rays re-revealed, clouds once more obscured our view.

It was as though a dinosaur-like creature was eager to consume -- or expel -- the still-raging heat. 

The solar lights around the pool winked out in obedience to the brightness. Mosquitoes took a hike. Cicadas dimmed to their customary daytime background whine. All gears were once again switched.

Columbia's famously hot status was reinstated. Celestial events notwithstanding, August in the Carolinas is no joke.

Throughout the spectacle, we could hear folks whooping and hollering all over the neighborhood.

Its duration had been a time of masterfully restrained power. Only God can do this.

I am grateful to Him for allowing me to witness it.

And that is all for now.

=0=0=0=

Happy Wednesday

Comments

[Judy]

I think the clouds lent an ethereal feeling to the whole experience. No clouds made photos I saw so stark. Your photos are so much....un-earthly? Heavenly? So glad you were home in time to see the Totality of it all.

[Mari]

Wow - I am impressed by your pictures! You got some gorgeous shots and the clouds enhanced them! A friend posted something that day that said, there will e another day when all the earth looks to the sky, but on that day every knee will bow, and no clouds will obscure the Son!

[Jennifer]

@Judy ... you are right! The clouds were beautiful but I would have liked to see "it" a teensy bit better. Not complaining though. It could have been much worse. xoxo

@Mari .. Thanks and I love that! No clouds will obscure Him. xoxo

[Luna Crone]

You got fantastic photos, the clouds only adding to the ambiance.

That was totality.

Here, we only got about 70% and ours was so very far from thrilling. :-( If our daughter-in-law and youngest grandson, from next door, had not come over to have us try their home-made pin-point hole shoe box, I probably would have fallen asleep. (sad but true)

I wasn't going to use any 'glasses.' Just wanted to see even some of those changes in nature around me. But that was a bust too.

I guess the home-made pin-point hole shoe box, which they made, was the high light of the whole event. Them making it, I mean. And using it, was pretty cool too.

So, gotta' take whatever fun, one can find, out of every event, sezzzzz I. People in totality got a biggggg showwwww. We got a little one.

And as for those hippies...... Who can understand any, of what they do?????????? -smirk-

Luna Crone
(Who isn't doing any "worshiping," by the use of her "Net Name." Just that I love the Moon. And I embrace the fact, that I am a Crone. An old woman, who is still quite vital, and still "bopping" along.)

[Jennifer]

@Luna ... you are the bomb, no matter what name you use. I have spoken. "Luna" is a beautiful word and "Crone" doesn't describe you in the least. Audrey made a pinhole box too! It was neat but to me, the reflection inside was too blurred to show what was really going on. I'm just thrilled I was able to see it once, In seven years, there will be another one just like this, with totality visible on a path from Texas to Maine. Maybe we'll be around for that one too, although it will "totally" miss both South Carolina and New York! Haaahaha. xoxo

[sally]

Oh, Jenny. You got some beautiful and awesome photos! Breathtaking actually.

The weather wasn't conducive for us to even see the sun. So, I'm very grateful for you sharing with us. :)

xoxo