This was the perfect day to take the morning off work, grab some geeky glasses and some nice food and wine, and hang out with friends in a sublime spot, gawking and wowing in a gaggle.
It is safe to say that we were all enthralled and astounded, although we all expected it to be a lot darker that it was at our big moment. What a potent sun we orbit, that shines so brightly even when it’s 97% blotted out. Incredible.
It was a very hot morning, so we were glad when it cooled perceptibly and a little evening-type breeze washed over us in the most welcome way. It got unearthly silent as a nearby combine and even road traffic shut down for the event. As it got dimmer and dimmer Skye the Weimaraner hadn’t gotten the memo and decided that she didn’t like it one bit, so she provided a mournful sound track of her own. We could have live-streamed the Kronos Quartet, who were playing a real-time musical interpretation of the eclipse, but we had Skye and that was all we needed.
Even though two of us look like we’re posing for a B movie poster about incipient alien landings and the other two look like they’re posing for a NASA recruitment ad, we were all well and truly impressed by our galaxy.
We watched the moon come and go, had some befuddled Google-assisted conversations about the moon’s rotational pattern which was so evident from our vantage point, gravity and tidal locking, and whether there is really a dark side of the moon (nope, but there is a side we never see). From time to time we’d pop in to the house like cuckoos in a clock, to watch as people cheered the NASA totality captures all over the country.
As a new day began the robins re-inhabited the lawn and a nearby rooster crowed as if two dawns in one day were a thing. We basked in all of this while sharing a lovely potluck brunch in comfy chairs on a deck above the vineyards and below the rim of the Blues. A perfect summer morning.
FRENCH LETTERS 
Cloudy and misty here on the Monterey Bay. Even going up to the summit of the Santa Cruz Mountains didn’t help. (I didn’t go, but a crowd of my friends were up there. Nothing was visible.)
I did notice when I was on the beach at 8am that there was a low-low tide (thanks to the sun/moon alignment) and that the high-high tide from last night left behind several tons of seaweed. Tangled in all that plant life was lots of trash… kids’ sand toys, cigarette butts, candy wrappers, a Frisbee… the kinds of things that people think are inconsequential when they throw it on the ground. But it always ends up in the ocean.
Yup. i was watching the live streaming of the Eclipse on NASA’s page as it wasn’t seen from India.
I am glad to hear you had a lovely time!
You are so correct! Since the first plastic was invented less than 100 years ago, best estimates are that 5,000 million metric tons are in landfills and oceans and in 30 years, at current rate, more plastic than fish in the oceans!
Photo and your description of it is making me so happy!