Solar Eclipse, the Backyard View

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Yesterday afternoon, Robb built what he called "an eclipse thingy" out of a tube of tar paper and a circle of metal that might have been the lid to something once.  We lined this up with the sun, and projected an eclipse-shaped shadow on the wall of our neighbor's garage.  Whoah.....




It didn't take long for us to realize that every bit of dappled sunlight in our backyard was also eclipse-shaped. You've never seen two people more enchanted by shadows.  It was fascinating to watch them change as the eclipse progressed.  At first the shadows had blurry edges, but they sharpened up, and rotated over time.




Mundane objects took on magical properties.  The quality of sunlight seemed very strange to us.  We wondered how pre-literate humans might have interpreted such an occurrence.




I really loved how the entire backyard became an eclipse projector.  (This is probably as nice as our neighbor's garage is ever going to look.  I suppose we'll eventually have to paint it...)




Likewise, I doubt I'll ever see the inside of our chicken coop in quite such a poetic light.




And Robb?  Well, that's another story.  As far as I'm concerned, he actually did hang the moon and the stars.  (Corny?  Sure.  However, I could have made a "heavenly body" joke, and that would have been much worse.)

How about you? Were you able to see the eclipse?  Did you stack up all of your sunglasses to look at the sky?  

Comments

Michelle said…
We just found a nice spot with a great view to sit with a glass of wine and enjoy the weird light. At one point we made a pinhole projector to see the image on the side of the house. We didn't have any dappled light casting multiple images of the eclipse but I did notice that my shadow had fuzzy edges. It was a remarkable experience, even without special glasses.
Anonymous said…
Here in the Midwest we didn't experience this particular eclipse, but we did have one quite a few years ago. We had been told ahead of time that birds quit singing during an eclipse, and we did find this to be the case. -Rose
lli said…
Thanks to the clouds yesterday in Portland, ours was a meh-clipse. I loved your pictures!
Cyn Plahuta said…
Love your photos!

~~ Cyn ~~
Stefaneener said…
We had so much fun with it. A neighbor had welding masks, we ran and danced in the shadows, and did you guys notice that your shadows were "feathered"?

What a lovely picture of Robb. I don't think I've ever seen such a nice one.
Anonymous said…
we were all outside in the street looking at all the cool shadows and the crazy grey /white light
Cyn Plahuta said…
Great idea on taking the photos!
Cyn Plahuta said…
Great ideas on taking the photos!
I was such a dork. We were so busy this weekend that I didn't find out about the eclipse until I finally read my FB feed in the morning. I did notice on Sunday when we got home that the sky seemed darker than normal around 6PM, but somehow, it just didn't 'click'. Oh well, next time. I love your photos though, they really are quite magical!
normanack said…
How magical! Your pictures leave me speechless.

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