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elizillaMonday morning I watched from my desk as the library set up an EZ-Up outside the front door, put up barrels and tape along the street, and put a long row of chairs along the front wall. What's up? I went to their website to see. They were having a program for the eclipse. Starting at 1pm they would be live streaming it in the big meeting room downstairs, and giving away eclipse glasses, limited quantities, one pair per family.
Well before noon, people started to arrive. They brought their chairs and umbrellas and coolers, and lined up along the side of the building. By 12:30 the queue was snaking out through the parking lot. It was like people lining up for concert tickets. The neighborhood was parked up for as far as I could see from my second floor window. Streams of cars rolled by, dropping off kids.
Steve went down there and talked to some of the people. They were queuing for the limited pairs of eclipse glasses. At 1pm the line started to move and within a half hour or so they all got through it. The crowds just milled about. Families had spread blankets on the grass by the sidewalk and set up their lawn chairs. It was like a festival. They estimate they got about 1000 people. I don't know if they had many come in to look at the live stream - I thought that sounded kinda dumb, I mean, we have all seen photos of eclipses and even a live stream is just more screen time. The action was outside!
Steve coaxed me to leave my desk and come out. We took some lawn chairs out and sat with the crowd. There was no shortage of glasses; Steve already had a pair and he went to the desk and got me my own pair. We sat and watched the partial eclipse. Not sure what the percentage was, but the sun got down to a thin crescent. There were a few clouds obscuring it, off and on, but for the most part we could see it. At the peak, the light did get kind of eerie; the shadows were very sharp yet it was not exactly dim, but less bright than you would expect when the shadows are so sharp. I thought it was almost more interesting to look around me, than to look through the glasses at the sun.
About five minutes after the peak, heavy storm clouds rolled in front of the sun, and five minutes after that it was raining, and the festival evaporated in minutes.
Well before noon, people started to arrive. They brought their chairs and umbrellas and coolers, and lined up along the side of the building. By 12:30 the queue was snaking out through the parking lot. It was like people lining up for concert tickets. The neighborhood was parked up for as far as I could see from my second floor window. Streams of cars rolled by, dropping off kids.
Steve went down there and talked to some of the people. They were queuing for the limited pairs of eclipse glasses. At 1pm the line started to move and within a half hour or so they all got through it. The crowds just milled about. Families had spread blankets on the grass by the sidewalk and set up their lawn chairs. It was like a festival. They estimate they got about 1000 people. I don't know if they had many come in to look at the live stream - I thought that sounded kinda dumb, I mean, we have all seen photos of eclipses and even a live stream is just more screen time. The action was outside!
Steve coaxed me to leave my desk and come out. We took some lawn chairs out and sat with the crowd. There was no shortage of glasses; Steve already had a pair and he went to the desk and got me my own pair. We sat and watched the partial eclipse. Not sure what the percentage was, but the sun got down to a thin crescent. There were a few clouds obscuring it, off and on, but for the most part we could see it. At the peak, the light did get kind of eerie; the shadows were very sharp yet it was not exactly dim, but less bright than you would expect when the shadows are so sharp. I thought it was almost more interesting to look around me, than to look through the glasses at the sun.
About five minutes after the peak, heavy storm clouds rolled in front of the sun, and five minutes after that it was raining, and the festival evaporated in minutes.
