I’ve watched some online broadcasts about the eclipse today. April 8, 2024. Total. Eclipse. Or so they say, and show, but not here. Here on the West Coast, it’s only partially experienced and unseen from my location due to clouds.
I heard of an elderly man who has witnessed over a dozen eclipses, and that’s his thing. His wife has passed, and now he goes it alone.
In some areas, they’ve run out of the safety glasses to watch. In other regions, the storms will keep everyone living normally.
The photo says a lot. From my contact on “X,” @TracesofTexas:
“Texas was visited by a total eclipse on Monday, July 29, 1878 — a phenomena that was not only forecast by astronomers at that time but was also photographed in Fort Worth. A Harvard astronomer named Leonard Waldo made Cowtown his destination for observing and documenting the eclipse. Waldo’s team included R.W. Wilson, a Harvard colleague; J.K. Rees of Washington University in St. Louis; W.H. Pulsifer, also of St. Louis; and F.E. Seagrave of Providence, Rhode Island. The observation site was at the home of S.M. Lomax, near Daggett Street at the intersection of South Adams and Ballinger or Summit. The home was about a half-mile outside the Fort Worth city limits at that time. The observers also included some amateur astronomers from Fort Worth. Fort Worth experience rain for three days leading up to the day of the event, causing the astronomers some anxiety, but the day of the event was clear and hot. There were also a LOT of Texas insects and bugs on hand, much to the consternation of the gathered. Shown here is a photo of the event. Shown are Leonard Waldo, R.W. Wilson, J.K. Rees, W.H. Pulsifer, F.E. Seagrave, Alfred Freeman, and A.M. Britton.”
I’m okay with not seeing it. It’s just natural, and I enjoy plenty of local fauna and flora. When the clouds are absent, I enjoy the skies, especially the night sky.
But it got me thinking, and that’s where I’m at today—thinking but living through what so many have an opportunity to enjoy.
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