Before I show you my eclipse picnic, I want to say: Shame on the schools and teachers who didn’t allow their children to go outdoors to experience this beautiful phenomenon of nature. What a great science experience, that even prisoners got to enjoy, but many students here had to sit inside and watch it on TV. So very wrong for many reasons! Congratulations to the parents I saw down at the pier who had taken their children out of school for the day. Experience is the best educator. Teach-on, parents! Living life is the best textbook you’ll ever have. – whew! had to get that out of the way. Now . . .
“Dad and I are going to have a picnic for the eclipse down by the pier. Don’t you want to come along?” “No!” “I don’t want to have a little picnic with my mommy and daddy! I’m going to be taking pictures down on the beach by myself.” (remember, he’s homeschooled, and we really haven’t started classes just yet, so Joseph is still “free range” for now. On top of that, his friends started back to school yesterday, so he was without his gang).
So, I set up the picnic without our little Joseph. A little boy, who reminded me of the Kindergarten version of Joseph ran around with a box on his head and talked to me about the eclipse.
Then, the little guy shared his special glasses with me. About that time, Joseph texted me. “Mom! come down here on the beach with me! It’s awesome! Bring the food!” Uhh-hummmm. Who is the clever mom now?
So, we told Bob where we’d be and he joined us. Just about the time it was getting dark, I wished we could find someone to take our photo, when I looked up, and there came our good friend and professional photographer, Kelly Bullington, who snapped this cute photo of us. Wishing on an eclipse is better than wishing on a star! Click on Kelly’s name to see her beautiful work.
Joseph got some pretty good photos . . . before his battery died. Poor guy. He’ll have to make sure it’s charged before the next eclipse. 80.7% darkness here in Fairhope. Much like a very cloudy day. Afterwards, everyone was the jokster saying, “I can’t see you, it’s so dark!” “Is that you?” hahaha. We’re all so jolly on days we have an excuse to stop work!
Here’s a time lapse video Joseph made before the battery fizzled. Not the eclipse, but a beautiful, dramatic summer sky. It’s just some numbers and letters, but if you click it, it will work. I’ll try later to get something prettier up. I know how you all love ‘pretty!”
Hope you all had a fun experience with the eclipse!