We were not in the totality of the eclipse yesterday but we did make the most of the 93% experience in our neck of the woods.  It was last minute chaos-as-usual, not for lack of preparation.  My party food ingredients, purchased on Friday, were consumed in bits and pieces throughout the weekend.  After shopping I had spent the weekend looking up serial numbers on the backs of our glasses and determining how many seconds of direct exposure were required for irreversible retina damage, how permanent retina damage presents itself, and devising various ways for affixing said glasses onto my kids' heads.  I am nothing if not spontaneously fun lol.

Monday morning I sent the boys to replace the party food they had eaten that was missing.  The three youngest worked on their pinhole viewers.  That whole thing was pretty darned fascinating.  If you still have yours lying around, or you are into photography, you might want to check out this link for more information about the camera obscura. 

teaser from the article…

Here is Dad explaining how to embed the paper glasses onto your face so your mother doesn't freak out. 

….as much

Here is what 93% shadows look like….

That part was amazing to me.  The next image shows about what it looked like around us at its peak.  Mostly the sky dimmed considerably and the shadows deepened.  Our temperature dropped and the crickets began to sing.  Birds started to fuss about the trees.  

When it began to pass we celebrated with our eclipse lunch.  Corny I know.  But hey, learning should be a blast right?  I am a sucker for a great theme. 

That right there is my baby girl whose computer and phone and icloud all crashed or deleted just before the eclipse (unrelated, just bad timing) and who lost a great deal of data and personal memories.  This is her who, having wiped her tears, said, "Mom I'm really, really upset but let's not ruin the party.  We will go look at it after." These are the moon pie esclipses she made for the littles.  THAT is more self control and goodwill than I am usually capable of in the midst of heartache.  

(follow up is today after many tears and prayers she was able to recover most though not all of her data.  Heading to the Genius Bar tomorrow.  Say a prayer, y'all.) 

In usual form, we reserved these books which look promising and will be read retrospectively:

Eclipse Miracle

Cowee Sam 

Eddie's Eclipse

How was your eclipse day?  Did you read any fabulous books or do projects you'd recommend?  Do let us know!  We will be exploring for a while yet.  

It's often very warm after dinner.  We move slowly, as a rule, gathering the dishes and putting the leftovers away.  I am happy for my window over the sink.  It faces out over the valley where the sun sets.  Right out there the other night a family of quail cautiously crept out of the woods and made a rather bold trek across the yard.  It was a success. The dogs snoozed nearby unaware.  Only we humans noticed.  First the girls, who then whispered through the open window, "Mom!  Your birds!"  I dropped my dish cloth and we walked outside to watch them together.

The mother bird eventually led the way northward, followed by a mostly orderly line of little chicks.  If you've ever crossed the street with a gaggle of kids you know there are always a couple who wander further abroad, making their mother crazy.  The male, on crossing guard duty, stayed mid-yard on lookout until the last chicks passed.  When the planks of the deck creaked he hurried them all along into the brush and out of sight.  

There was something wonderful about the whole journey, both of the pair with their jobs to do. Single minded. Each instinctively knowing how critical their role was.  Happy little chicks exploring eagerly with no idea how vulnerable they are, trusting the older birds to get them where they were going.  

This one, standing as a sentinel afterwards, until they were well hidden and down the hill.  The dogs would have gone after him if he had been noticed.  I suppose that was his purpose for remaining out in the open so long.  I found that heartachingly beautiful.  

 "Love is always ready to deny itself, to give, sacrifice, just in the measure of its sincerity and intensity. Perfect love is perfect self-forgetfulness. Hence where there is love in a home, unselfishness is the law. Each forgets self and lives for others."    JRR Miller

This week has seen a lot of action for the three youngest here. We sent that young man (above) off to camp. Then the girls have been preparing their projects to submit to a local gallery for our city's monthly art stroll exhibit.  I will be honest.  That was one of those ideas that sounds awesome when you first hear it.  Then as the time draws near, if you are an introvert anyway, you start thinking of how swamped you already are, how you need to find out where the art work is supposed to get dropped off, that you must plug all that stuff in the GPS and figure out how to get it there on the same day the boy child needs to meet his camp ride.  And it's his first time away from home and both of you are a little wigged out about all that. And paint and finding newspaper to cover the table, and cleanup and stuff.

This is GOYBP at its finest y'all.  Get Off Yer Butt Parenting. It's a critical piece of the discipline puzzle.  You know, when you are trying to finish your chapter/blog post/phone call/work deadline/whatever but Child 1 reports that Child 4 is pouring that new organic shampoo into the toilet, then you need to GOYB and go parent right then.  When you're sitting on the couch calling the child and child keeps saying, "In a minute," over and over?  You've gotta GOYB and go retrieve the child.  

Well, it is every bit as important to GOYB when the kids are being awesome.  These kids have been awesome and since they can't drive and want to participate I pushed past my foot dragging and we got 'er done. I'm so pleased with the finished products.  Both girls have been working so hard and trying many different mediums. We have learned so much – both what worked and how we will do some things differently next time.  

OK so we did actually go to the wrong place initially but we recovered, got to the right venue and found their work.  Then we crossed the street to the cupcake shop to finish off the evening. Lemondrop , Chocolate Marshmallow, and a caramel chocolate macaroon thankyoukindly. So much fun.  Now we are scanning our Pinterest feeds for the next project.