Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Midweek: eclipse, National Library Week + hollyhocks

 It was cloudless and 65 degrees on Monday -- perfect for viewing the eclipse.  We were in the 94% totality region.  I had to explain to Stevens why we were out in the back yard. He went back inside after a while. I stayed out for all of it.   I had only my iPhone and no special filter so my snapshots don't show much.

It did not get dark here but the quality of the sunlight changed, the temperature dropped slightly, and a breeze kicked up.     

Photo: holding iPhone up to the lens of the eclipse glasses.  


 

This chipmunk was motionless for a couple of minutes. 


This photo was at about halfway.  There's a thumbnail sliver to the right of the sun -- a planet?   apparently just a reflection from the camera lens.

  


Crescent-shaped shadows on the patio.   I wish I'd remembered to bring out the colander.

My sister and I remembered an eclipse when we were kids. I looked it up: July 20, 1963. Our dad made a viewer out of a cardboard box (no eclipse glasses then). He projected the crescent onto the inside wall of the garage —it was about 3” — and traced around it. That image was there forevermore. (Like a prehistoric cave drawing.)

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It's National Library Week! How are YOU celebrating the libraries and librarians in your life?


On Monday evening I went to the Millburn School District board meeting. The board is reconsidering participation in the statewide Rebecca Caudill Award , a program in which 4th-8th graders vote on books to be recognized. Last month ONE board member said that ONE book on LAST YEAR'S list was "too political" and wanted to discontinue it all.   He got three other board members to vote with him. [Apparently they did not read the book, nor did they discuss it.] Decision is pending.


The audience at the meeting were all opposed to that action and all in favor of continuing participation. Photo: with my friend and colleague Deb, librarian at ZBTHS and president of the school librarians assn. in Illinois. And of course I took photos of the paper quilts hung in the hallway!

Left: the book.

On Tuesday morning Zion Woman's Club brought donuts to the staff at Zion-Benton Public Library for Library Workers' Day. ZWC led the effort to establish the Zion Memorial Public Library in 1937.
Tuesday afternoon I moderated the monthly Reading Sisters (P.E.O.) Zoom book club. We talked about Early Morning Riser which I reviewed in this post.
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In the studio: the hollyhocks wall hanging is finished! I can check that off the to-do list and contemplate starting something new. Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss Midweek Makers

9 comments:

  1. Love your beautiful wall hanging! It might taken a while to make but it was sure worth it. Thanks for sharing on my weekly show and tell, Wednesday Wait Loss. https://www.inquiringquilter.com/questions/2024/04/07/wednesday-wait-loss-375

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  2. I read "A Gentleman in Moscow" this past week. I started "Witches Steeped in Gold" but I just couldn't get into it when I learned before page 60 that the sister's were destined to kill the other. I'm now reading "One Hundred Years of Solitude". An interesting multi-generation story And next up is "Boy Erased" a memoir of a young man. I'm always interested in the lives of people different from me. Difference makes the world go 'round :-)

    To the right of the Eclipse is Pluto! Most people missed Jupiter which was on the left side.

    Happy stitching Nann.

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  3. We got a collander photo! That was fun! I have to admit I didn't realize that it is National Library Week, but I do love our public library. They offer so many services these days, and not just books (although I read many, many library books). Thank you for being a librarian for all your readers, Nann! Your hollyhocks wall-hanging is beautiful!

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  4. We only had 92 % totality, but it got dark gray and the temp dropped
    8 degrees here under light cloud cover...
    I love your wall hanging--such lovely colors -- nice work hugs, Julierose

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  5. Quiltdivajulie - we were at 97.7% and it did not get totally dark here but, like you, it dropped in temp, a breeze blew in, and the light quality changed dramatically. Love the story of the childhood eclipse.

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  6. The eclipse, at least here, was pretty much a non-event. It simply looked cloudy outside (we didn't have the glasses so didn't see it happening). A lot of hoopla over nothing it seems.
    Funny how people will decide a book (or a movie) is a terrible thing but they can't make their argument because they've never read/seen it.

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  7. love the hollyhocks...my grandmother had them in her garden....

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  8. Sorry to hear your town is suffering the attentions of the anti-education gang! And the hollyhocks are great, one of my favorite garden flowers. I wonder if it's too late to start seeds this year?

    Ceci

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