On the Saturday of the eclipse i had to work. It was a good thing though because it meant i could help take the patients out to see the eclipse. I was worried that on the weekend there wouldnt be anybody with that mindset but unbeknownst to me Rosemary was on the schedule. She’s full of heart for the elders and she always makes **** happen no matter whats going on.
At the peak of the eclipse i clocked out and observed the ring of fire happen in a matter of minutes. It went from resembling a crescent moon to being a perfect orange ring around a black ball. Its one of those things that you see with your eyes but you’re not quite sure where to file in your brain, so you just drop it in the folder titled “miscellaneous”.
Minutes later it was back to looking like a bright orange crescent.
I could not get the camera on my cell phone to focus through the eclipse glasses so i just took a photo of it raw. You can tell that there is less light than usual because had it been the full view of the sun nothing in the photo would have had definition and everything would have been white.
The sun was up. It was the middle of the day. The sun was clearly visible in the sky. The outdoors appeared strange. It appeared as if someone took a cell phone filter and put it over everything in sight. It was broad daylight but everything was a bit darker than it should have been. It was as if someone had taken the exposure slider in a photo editing software and moved it so that everything was a bit underexposed.
I was busy helping Rosemary bring residents and their spouses out to watch the eclipse and lending them my gas station eclipse viewing glasses to take a look. I did not take the time to find a shadow and see if it had the weird crescent shapes in it. However, several coworkers and neighbors reported that they had seen this effect in the shadows of trees or shrubs where the light was filtered through the leaves and hit the pavement in a weird crescent or circular shape. One of our patients stated loudly, “I’m cold! I want to go in!” It was already a chilly day and at the peak of the eclipse the temperature dropped 10 degrees. He demanded to be taken inside. In one of the only moments ive ever seen his wife say no to him, she stood firm and said, “Well im not done looking at it yet. We’ll go in a minute.” She had been so busy getting him arranged and getting the glasses held on his face and showing him where to look, she didnt really have a chance to take a good look herself. He threw a fit. He said what he wanted and it wasnt being carried out. She said in a rather defeated voice, “Okay, well i better take him in.” I had gotten to see the ring of fire standing beside my car and now that it was a crescent shape i was just committed to helping others view it. I grabbed the wheelchair and handed her my glasses, “I’ll take him in.” She said, “No you dont have to do that, i’ll go.” I said, “No ive got him. You stay outside and look at it. This is one of those once in a lifetime things.” So she did. She looked and looked and looked. She stayed out there another good 15 minutes at least. He was happy as soon as he got inside the heated building. He just didnt want to be cold. She held onto the railing and i steadied her while she held the glasses on her face with her other hand and she looked at the eclipse for the longest time. It was really something to see. The patients were lined up in their wheelchairs in the reclined position with glasses on their faces watching the sun go from a ring to a crescent moon to looking like a cheese wheel that had been partially eaten.
There wasnt a cloud in sight blocking the sun but it looked a bit too dark to be midday on a sunny day. It was strange. Years ago i witnessed a similar eclipse while i was working in kerrville and the same thing happened. The courtyard looked a bit too dark for peak afternoon sunlight on a cloudless day and the temperature dropped ten degrees.
The eclipse sure was something to see. I was glad we got to view it, and then, it was time to get back to work.