I’m late with this post. I’ve been late with everything this week since I went off to play last weekend at Cumberland Lake on Sunday and then to watch the eclipse – the total eclipse – at South Union Shaker village on Monday. How could I not go to that opportunity? A total eclipse and a chance to tour the other Shaker village in Kentucky. I was very impressed with how much work they have done restoring the village and making the museum exhibits so much better than when I was there years ago. It was fun seeing it with my granddaughters too. They are 8 and 11, but they love touring museums and finding out about things. So it was great seeing things through their eyes. Of course, it was fun witnessing the eclipse with them too.
The eclipse was definitely the event of the day. Nature is such a wondrous thing. Some facts to prove this are that the sun is about 400 times the diameter of the moon. So you’d think that would make it difficult for the moon to fit so perfectly over the sun. But then the sun happens to also be about 400 times farther away from earth than the moon which makes the sun and moon appear to be about the same size when we look up at them from our spots on earth ground. Next there are the moon’s ragged mountains which we can’t actually see from down here on earth the way we do the man in the moon, but it is those mountains that form a sawtooth pattern at the lunar edges through which the last of the sun’s light streams in the moments before a total eclipse is complete, creating the brilliant burst of light astronomers call the diamond ring effect. I saw that as the moon moved past the sun after the total eclipse. Very neat. During the totality which lasted a few seconds longer than two minutes where I was, we could look at it without our protective glasses. And it did get dark. The crickets did start chirping. They said stars came out, but I was so focused on the sun I forgot to look for stars. So I missed that.
But I’m glad I didn’t miss the sun and moon show. Seeing a total eclipse is a once in a lifetime event. There hadn’t been a total eclipse in the continental USA since 1918. While at some point on the planet a total solar eclipse occurs every 18 months, the chance of a total eclipse being at any particular spot, say where you actually live, happens just once every 350 years or so. Then when the moon moves along and lets the sun shine down again, the show is over for another three and a half centuries. A total solar eclipse right over your head is priceless and worth the traffic jam of everybody going home after it’s over. Actually, a total eclipse will be visible in the USA and in western Kentucky in seven years. So if we’re willing to drive and still have our feet on the ground and haven’t moved up to heaven, we’ll have another chance to see the dragon eat the sun. That’s what the Chinese used to believe and so when there was an eclipse they banged pots or gongs and set off fireworks to scare it away. It always worked for them. Where I was, people cheered at the end of the totality minutes to welcome the sun back.
Some of this information comes from a Times article. If you want to read more, here’s the link.
And now for the winners of the ten, well let’s make it twelve, copies of Love Comes Home. First thank you all for your interest. That was very encouraging for me that so many of you wanted a copy of the book. Sorry I can’t send you all a book, but I do have more giveaways coming. Actually I just sent out a newsletter with info on the first one. If you didn’t get the newsletter and would like to, you can sign up right here on my website. But let me know you signed up. You might not get the current one unless I resend it to you.
Oh yeah. Those winners. I am getting ready to send all of you e-mails to get your addresses. So check your e-mail. Here you go:
- Pat Merritt
- Paula
- Robin B.
- Connie Lee
- Tara Ann R.
- Cathy
- Gena S
- Mary H
- Donna H
- Susan D
- Virginia R
- Holly C
That was fun. I’ll get the books packed up and on the way to you soon. I hope I have enough envelopes! Thanks again for wanting to read my Rosey Corner book. Some readers liked this one best of the three. If you’re curious, Angel Sister was first and Small Town Girl second, but they can all be stand-alone stories.
I’ll have to do this again sometime. As always, thanks for reading!
Comments 6
Wow loved reading your blog as I always do. I may not leave a comment but in this case giving away 10 books was just so nice of you. God bless you Ann you just go out and over of the bounds and that is so sweet and we are so blessed !
Author
Always good to hear from you, Peggy. I finally got all those books mailed off today. I have to hope the winners will enjoy the story. You think it will make them want to start at the beginning and read Angel Sister? I know you would. 🙂
Thank you Ann, you are a lovely person and a great author!
Author
Thanks, Connie. I’ll get the book in the mail soon. I’m waiting for some of the other addresses. Thanks for sending yours.
Oh my goodness!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you! May I pay postage, at least?
I love taking my 10yo daughter to historic sites nowadays, since she’s old enough to enjoy learning about them. For her Girl Scout badge, we went to the local historic village to find out about daily life for girls in the late 1800s. We’d been there several times before, but this time we were seeking specific knowledge… something that wouldn’t have happened with just me on my own. It was a great experience!
Author
It is such fun to see things anew through a child’s eyes. So much of what I knew and experienced as a young person is completely foreign to my grandchildren. They have grown up in an electronic age that I couldn’t even imagine.
You won the book, so it’s a prize. Tara Ann. Postage free. But if you like the book, maybe you can buy another of mine sometime. I will need your mailing address, so please message that to me at annhgabhart(at)hughes(dot)net or from my contact page here. Thanks.