Sound Check for the Eclipse

Sound Check for the Eclipse

I took this shot with my little Fujifilm point-and-shoot camera, no planning, no special filters, just a point-and-shoot snapshot. I decided not to make any special effort to get a photo. I just didn't want to miss the experience of it. There will be a bazillion Eclipse photos better than I could do, so I didn't sweat it.

Some people have said the light was like dusk. I thought of it more like a moonlit night with a highly bright full moon once my eyes had gotten used to the low light. I noticed it getting darker and darker and cooler about 20 minutes before the Totality. 

Traffic, where I live was a little higher than usual before the few hours surrounding the Eclipse, but not by much. The heavy traffic was on the nearby Interstate. On Friday and Saturday, other roads leading south and east were the heaviest with traffic. Sunday seemed light going east, but there were more careless drivers around. I saw more wrecks than usual. The biggest traffic day was Monday after the event. I heard some reports that it took 4 or 5 hours to get from my area to Portland. I'm glad I didn't have to go anywhere. 

I played a music gig the night before the big Eclipse at a farm several miles from the city. That was fun. Campers from all over the Western US came to witness the Eclipse. It was cool playing out amongst the trees with many campers. A beautiful place with friendly people, very well managed for a private campground instead of a public facility. Very nice.

My band Di-VERSE-ified, doing a pre-Eclipse sound check.

 I hadn't considered it before, but "Sound Check for the Eclipse" would be a good name for some Jazzy instrumental collections. Some people talked about listening to Pink Floyd while watching The Eclipse. I was listening to some Public Broadcasting System Radio station out of Salem, Oregon, so I could hear a live play-by-play report with people going "ooooooh" and "ahh, ooooooh, ahhh" as things progressed. 

I don't know if there is anything to it, but gravity seemed less, with the sun and the moon in alignment. It was a fantastic sight to see. I couldn't stop saying, "WOW." My photograph doesn't quite do justice to what it actually looked like. I had a strong emotional response and sense of community feeling during Totality. I also felt a certain sense of it as if God was saying … "Don't worry, I've got this."

So yesterday, I started a painting of the Eclipse. It's going to turn out nicely. While viewing the Eclipse directly (wearing safety glasses) for those few brief moments, I saw it had a blue and red kind of aura around the moon like nothing I've ever seen before, so I will try and paint that, at least in my own impressionistic way. I'll post the image when it's done. 

My Art Rendering of the Eclipse in Totality

Acrylic Painting by Jeff T Patterson

The Eclipse has to be one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. I see why people feel compelled to chase after these things all over the globe. I'm glad I was here on the path of Totality, even if just by luck or some more excellent plan. Who knows?

I love the concept of so many people looking up to the heavens and forgetting about all the mess down here on Earth. I want to carry that feeling forward and focus more on my vision. I'm not ignoring all the troubles on Earth but knowing God is really there, and he's telling me, "Don't worry … I've got this."