Journey to the center of Maine Part 3: After

Part 3: After

The spectacle of a total eclipse is, as they say, very different from witnessing the event outside the path of totality. For one, since I was in a 90% zone for the total eclipse in 2017, I was able to compare a couple things like the Snake Effect thing, I think that only happens in the path of totality; and do the birds sing or not? In the 90% zone I witnessed bald eagles and osprey go to trees and roost quietly until the darkness passed. In the path of totality we saw the birds rush to their "places" and when it was in totality they all called out with all their might, it was loud. And the wind across the ice stopped.

And the visuals, sorry I couldn't capture the Snake thing, it was pretty cool.

The best shots from the event

Once again



As it moves out of position

Southern edge/Greenville


Receding Shadow



A Closer Look at That



Shadow Receding Under the Sun



Some perspective



All Done



Time to put the glasses back on



And then I was back to looking for the snakes again for the next ten seconds. But walking back to the bar and grille we were kind of anchored at, the eclipse was still in progress so the trees provided us with updates in multiples







Amazingly also, my whole stay was fun and had no unpleasant events once I actually got there. I even missed earthquakes that would have extended my unhappily lengthy stay at notable airport both ways... guess I am still able to keep one step, in this case a couple hours, ahead of those!

I made it home safely hopping over different storms crossing the nation, thankfully north of a big mess of tornadoes. The wonderful sight waiting for me at my destination was a beautiful newish moon, the slightest crescent such that you could see an illumined outline around the earth's shadow mimicking the eclipse in the same portion of the sky some 30 hours later while Venus shone brightly beneath.

Journey to the center of Maine Part 2

Part 2: During

Amazingly, as crowded as it was on the south shore of the lake, Skippa's dad and I were able to walk a little way up the west side and found a boat ramp and jetty where only a few people had gathered, there was plenty of space so we watched from there. A few younger folks joined us and we enjoyed anticipatory conversation. One knowledgeable guy told us the long version of the cause of the Snake Effect and a pair of students from a local college decided they would watch from there too. Everyone was amazed at how bright the sunlight was, even at 90% coverage. It only took seconds for the light to disappear completely once it was past 90%.

After watching the Snake Effect, it was okay to look directly at the sun/moon without protection so I turned the camera upward during the period of totality.


Aaaaaand, There it is!



And Venus!



You could see the edges of the shadow on either side

Looking southeast


Looking northwest


And you could see the trajectory of the shadow as it passed over and beyond

Looking northeast



Part 1 https://www.democraticunderground.com/1036130371

Part 3 https://www.democraticunderground.com/1036130380

Journey to the center of Maine...

Or a day in the life of 2naSalit.

Somebody Say Something About An Eclipse?

Like a moth to a flame, I traveled to the wonderful state of Maine to see the total eclipse... place of my childhood and birthplace to all of my younger siblings. I missed the last total eclipse, was in the 90% zone in 2017, but I heard about an effect of light, that many described during the event, on live broadcasts.

They called it the "snake effect" and many studies were conducted with regard to it this time. That's what I wanted to see, though I did not know what caused it. So I made plans about a month ahead of time and notified a fellow DUer that I was going to be in their area, three cheers to OAITW.r.2.0 who ended up being my knight in shining armor and rescued me from a potential disaster!

Note to those who "get" astrology: beware of taking vacations while Mercury is retrograde between a pair of eclipses even if you make plans ahead of all that.

So I was doing fine with my travel plans all the way up until the first plane landed at a reputable airport on the eastern seaboard, I've been there before, long story, not a pleasant experience. And there I was again, decades later, only to find that the place had grown exponentially and not in a good way, especially for an aging individual. Arrived with plenty of time to make my connecting flight north only to get to the departure gate, a few miles away from where I arrived, to find my flight was canceled due to the snowstorm that I just saw a few days ago in Montana. I simply got in front of it to really enjoy its full affect, one more time, from above, inside and underneath.

I know how to have a good time!

27 hours later I was on my way to Maine where a rental car and a nice B&B room awaited ...or so I thought. Due to everyone charging my card for all my lodging etc. on the same day, I was not able to rent a car. As it turned out, my two contacts were sympathetic and made sure my visit was as good as I had hoped. Both told me to forget the car and they took care of my transportation needs. The innkeeper came to the airport and not only rescued me but put me in the nicest room for the first few nights since I was the only one there until a couple days prior to the eclipse, then I spent the rest of my stay in the smaller room I actually rented.

But it was Skippa's dad who was my chauffeur, concierge and companion for the majority of my stay... and Skippa, of course!

The weather was gloomy until the day before the event and just like it did back home, it got sunny and warm. Folks in Maine who came for the eclipse were in for a treat. On Monday, the big day, there was not a cloud in the sky and it was warm!

Skippa, his dad and me all set out to travel to the best place to see this phenomena which was Greenville, at the southern tip of Moosehead Lake. Nice little town, it was packed but everybody was nice and happy. It's not like that around the western national parks. There was no aggressive driving! At all! imagine that.

Anyway, I promised Skippa's dad that I would post a bunch of pictures here on DU. Due to a few factors of lighting and time, I chose to use the video option on my mediocre camera which did okay for what I demanded of it. The majority of the following photos are stills taken from the video with cropping and contrast slightly enhanced as the only treatment.

Part 1. Before

Crowd at Greenville, Maine




More at the dry dock of the Katahdin



As it grew darker the wind picked up. We were on a jetty so we had lake ice around us and as the wind picked up there were visible heatwaves rising from the ice covered lake. Granted it was in the +50s prior to the event.



Everything with a hole in it became a pinhole camera, like the fencepost on the jetty



The "Snake Effect", as I was informed, is from the last tidbits of direct sunlight as the jagged contours of the moon's surface block out the last of the direct sunlight hitting the atmosphere and refracting to create a remarkable effect on the ground for a few seconds at the beginning and end of totality. Made sense to me.

It's subtle and hard to describe but it is a light effect that I had never seen before. Another challenge was capturing it on video. It's seems like a combination of strobing ripples of light and shadow, shimmering and vibrating rapidly away from you. I watched it across the lake ice, definitely saw it but not sure if anyone else can see it. It wasn't clear in the video either so I'll only post a couple for examples.





Then Darkness!



Part 2 https://www.democraticunderground.com/1036130377

Part 3 https://www.democraticunderground.com/1036130380

Les McCann, oft-sampled soul-jazz pioneer, dead at 88

Here it is, a recipe...

My Thanksgiving gift to DU...

I couldn't find my archived copy but I was able to do a recall and write it out by hand for T-day last year because I wanted to make it and had to come up with the recipe. So this is what I did last year and it was wonderful so I am sure I am a 90% on the original, if I forgot anything, it probably doesn't matter. And now I have a typed version of this!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jan's Smoky Walnut Stuffing (from 2naSalit's memory)
For 10-14lbs turkey. Oven: 350-375F.

There are three components to be made, A - stuffing, B - basting fluid and C - gravy.

Recipe A: Stuffing

1 small onion diced
1 egg beaten
4-6 Cups bread pieces or ? stale or toasted
1/2 -1 bell pepper diced
1/4 Cup diced celery, include leaves
6 rashers smoked bacon
1/2 Cup mushrooms (optional)
3 or more cloves garlic chopped
1/2 Cup walnut chunks
1/4 Cup chicken broth
1/4-1/2 tsp. Each: Thyme, Rosemary and/or sage, cracked pepper, pinch of salt.

In a skillet, cook bacon until crisp, remove from pan and set aside, when cool, break into small pieces. In a large bowl mix herbs with bread and set aside. Lightly sautee onion, bell pepper and garlic add half to bread/spice mixture, stir in egg and mix adding the rest of the sauteed mix. Stir in bacon pieces and walnuts, add broth to balance moisture. Mix well and loosely stuff into bird.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Recipe B: Basting fluid
1 Cup white wine
1 stick melted butter (1/4 Cup)
4 Cloves garlic, smashed.

In Pyrex-like measuring cup melt butter, add garlic immediately while butter is hot then add the wine. Baste the entire bird roughly every 30 40 minutes. If you run low, add more wine.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Recipe C: Gravy

When bird is cooked, remove from roasting pan and set aside for carving.

Pan drippings, preferably at least 2 Cups.
6 oz currant (or plum)
1-2 Tbsp flour
1 oz white wine.

Remove any excess grease from the drippings then pour into a deep skillet and bring to a boil, add 50/50 broth/wine to add volume at this point. Add flour while stirring or whisking, mix well, bring temp down to med/low, stir in jelly. Continue to stir, as it starts to thicken, remove from heat and serve.

It sounds like a lot of work but it really isn't.

Enjoy!

Trick or Treat, DU!!

Ukraine News - Artur Rehi

Cross post from GD.

Artur is an Estonian soldier who has been reporting on the war with amazingly good info but he also takes donations and buys equipment for UA and delivers the stuff himself...

I have a nomination for Dad of the Year Award...

This guy, Hovak Alaverdyan, a fantastic musician of Armenian heritage who is a songwriter/producer. Quite an accomplished musician who happens to have a ten/eleven (now?) yo daughter who took to music at an early age.

What he is now getting famous for is being the Dad of Ellen...

My first exposure to her (with Yoyoka Soma on drums, recorded about 18 months ago)

Some "buttons" don't work.

In the recent past, ten days or so, I have had to resort to attempting a response to an OP to get to a log in page. The link at the top right of the Home page does not work on those days. It's intermittent.

Today and yesterday the reply button for comments within and OP do not work. I can't use the button in the lower right corner, even for the OP. I can only respond to the OP and only by using the big blue button at the bottom of the page.

Here it is! Woke: