Eclipsed

Yesterday was the solar eclipse and we were duly eclipsed. Unfortunately, it was a low cloud cover doing the eclipsing resulting in a non-event in southern and central Wisconsin.

My husband and I are life long residents of the Badger state, and we must admit that we did not have high hopes that we would witness the solar sky show. Anyone who has spent time here realizes that planning outdoor weddings, family picnics or concerts on the lawn has a high statistical chance of facing disappointment. Stuff like clouds, rain, sleet and golf ball size hail falls out of our skies with great regularity.

However, we did harbor a slight glimmer of hope as we spent all day Sunday and Monday morning in Chicago. Perhaps, we thought, Chicago would have sunshine and we could hang around for a while and take in the big sky show. Alas, no such luck.

As we headed back to Wisconsin, we listened to Chicago’s top, all news radio station broadcasting live updates on the eclipse from reporters all over the city. Here is our favorite report during the actual eclipse:

“I’m reporting from the special solar eclipse cruise boat in the harbor, and we are all looking at the thousands of people on shore staring up at the sky.”

In other words, a great enactment of the Second Coming, but nothing else for that highly priced boat ticket. Which brings us to another point. Since we were in a hotel room that morning, we turned on the television, a rare event for us as we haven’t owned a TV for over 30 years.

That is how we discovered that the eclipse, THE MOST DEMOCRATIC OF ALL EVENTS, was being hyped for profit like a rock concert or a blockbuster movie release. A helicopter tour company in Oregon was offering an exclusive viewing site on the side of a mountain for $80,000. The price included a freshly brewed cup of coffee.

I’m all for hyping the event, but my pitch would be as follows:

Don’t forget to catch the eclipse, folks. It’s called science and it is really real. And if you are clouded out, don’t worry. Nature is putting on great shows every day all around us. P.S. Nature is part of science, too.

In lieu of seeing the eclipse this video had to suffice for us.

0

2 thoughts on “Eclipsed”

  1. Herb and I traveled to Carbondale, Il. Hellacious traffic, but we got there just as the eclpse started. It was grand until a huge dark cloud rolled in just before totality. So, we missed the totality visuals we went there to see. (2.8 minutes) although we experienced the crickets, sunset, etc, side effects. On our return, we stayed overnight in Monteno Il which should have been a four hour trip from Carbondale. 11.5 hours later we checked into the hotel at 3AM.

    Reply

Leave a Comment