Dear Reader:

My journal, yesterday, began with a double awareness: One- that I was hungry and out of milk for my cereal. (Two: flocks of geese were flying overhead in droves squawking as loudly as they could…I thought to myself that they were sounding the alarm to all their other feathered friends that something strange was going to happen in the skies.)

So I called a friend and went to Alex’s for breakfast…and that is where the waitress with the fun solar eclipse socks was… it set the fun tone for the day. *

Then I stopped by Piggly Wiggly to get some milk before heading home and I noticed that everything looked and sounded like a ghost town. I was one of maybe five people in the store. I thought the streets and stores would be packed Monday…instead it was just the opposite.

I came home and decided to select one flower to follow throughout the solar eclipse cycle…so at 11:00 I took this first picture of the yellow zinnias in full sunlight…it was hot and humid.

Two hours (1:00) later I returned….the first summer shower had come through around 12:30… so when this next picture was taken…it was still drizzling and overcast.

It was after lunch (around 1:30) that I first heard it….thunder rumbling off in the distance getting closer and closer. It sounded like the ominous prelude to some majestic military march…as if the rumbling thunder was announcing the solar eclipse like the geese had done earlier.

I didn’t realize at the time, however, that the thunder would bring storms and rain with it….and put a real “damper” on the visibility of the solar eclipse on inland towns like Summerville, Goose Creek, and Moncks Corner. A bit of a bummer.

I was watching the National Weather Channel and wanted to see the Clemson viewing of the eclipse before I ran outside. They were very fortunate…sunny skies and a fantastic viewing.  (I believe that was the first time I began to feel emotional about everything going on and the anticipation of our own viewing.)

Picture of Coach Dabo Swinney eating some sun chips and probably just wondering what the universe has in store for Clemson this year…taken around 11:00 a.m. yesterday.

After the Clemson eclipse on television…I grabbed my Iphone and ran to take a photo of the zinnias as the eclipse took place…it was so dark my flash went off on the drenched yellow zinnias.

While I was doing this…something kept catching my attention…I turned around and all the garden solar lights were coming on at the same time…including my lights along the side fence. (To be completely honest with you…that was the best part of the eclipse for me…something I had never seen happen before even in an afternoon thunder storm) It was getting just that dark.

As I gathered with the other neighbors in the street…none of us even knew where the sun was supposed to be…it was already pretty dark from the thunder showers  and the lightning kept popping around us…just enough to make everyone a little nervous.

While standing in the street with my neighbor Luke and his buddy…watching the darkness descend…I took a picture of my front yard/home during the total eclipse.

My funniest memory, however, will be me and my colander. One of the weather officials told the television audience about the sun’s rays filtering in through a colander and it would form crescents creating objects.  Since the crescent is our state symbol that sounded like a good memento.

This idea doesn’t work, however, if you don’t have any sun to make shadows through the holes in the colander…There I was standing in the rain, with lightning all around, holding my colander. Luke and his friend just hooted good-naturedly. I was probably turning myself into a human lightning rod.

*Picture of the shadow of a colander with a star shaped pattern, and each spot a crescent during the eclipse.

Despite the unfortunate weather for the “Ville” I did feel a strange affinity for the universe and my teeny, tiny part in it. For the few moments that day did turn into night…it made me feel humble before a Creator Who produced the miracle of life with all that this entails. Mind-boggling…simply mind-boggling!

It was an experience of a lifetime for me…and I am just so glad I was here to feel it in every fiber of my being. It felt like God gave us all a holiday from politics and scary news…so we could come together as one in awe of our Creator…each a child of the Universe. That was the best gift of all!

I was surprised when the children started calling…each of them had seen the solar eclipse clearly and were so excited (I thought everyone was having thunder showers like us but their clouds cleared at the last minute)…from Mt. Pleasant to Daniel Island. Here are some photos Walsh sent from the river bank near his condo on Daniel Island.

So Beautiful…that gorgeous sunset scene that accompanies a solar eclipse …I think I am as disappointed in missing that as much as the eclipse itself over the sun…but I will enjoy it vicariously through friends and family.

*Guess what? It rained all afternoon here and then late last evening around 8:00 we had the most beautiful sunset that would rival even the solar eclipse one.

It was a special day…not long forgotten…special for the eclipse…special for the blog benchmark…special for simply being alive!

So until tomorrow…William Blake is right…” If the sun or moon should ever doubt, they would immediately go out.” Because the eclipse yesterday just reaffirmed, more strongly than ever, that I have no doubt Who is in charge of this magnificent universe.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Everyone have a great back-to-school day…(for Dorchester Two students this will be the first day back.) Again…there will be lots of first day back-to-school pictures on Facebook…visual mementos to be savored of another “eclipse” of time…gone before we know it.

* Look at how the “Solar Eclipse” sunflower/moon bowl mementos turned out…Aren’t they wonderful? Way to go Honey!