Ring of Fire

Yesterday was May 20th. Yes it was our baby's due date, but it was also the date of the solar eclipse. We were hoping Lucy would come on such a day... But I guess she has stage fright. Maybe she knew she would take all the attention away. How thoughtful....

Ring of Fire Solar Eclipse

Map showing zone to see the full Ring of Fire

We were lucky enough to be in the zone to view the eclipse. Although, to see the full event we needed to be about an hour north. The full event being "The Ring of Fire", where the moon passes in front of the sun creating a perfect ring of light. Instead we settled for about 95% viewing. Regardless we had a perfect view right in our own backyard. Almost saw the full ring. What we thought cool was the eerie light in the sky. Kind of felt like a major storm was about to pounce on us. This could have been the reason I thought my water would break at that exact moment. Possibly a good sign that it didn't!!!

Since direct eye contact with the sun could cause eye damage Patrick came through with a couple of solutions for viewing. One, we took an old floppy disk and pulled back the metal thingy in the middle. If you squinted with one eye, you could see the eclipse glow through the film. Unfortunately we couldn't get a good photo of this. The second thing he did was cut a small hole in a piece of paper. By doing this we could see the eclipse in its shadow. Pretty cool how that worked. Got a good view of Lucy on her due date!! A day we will always remember!

Viewing through floppy disk

Patrick and his Shadow

Louie and her Shadow - with Lucy included