Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Now You See It, Now You Don't





I don't know what kind of flower this glorious thing is and don't have time to search for the name.  
It is outside my mom's room at the care center in the courtyard.

Mom had a big setback earlier this week. During physical therapy her femur dislocated from the hip joint and she was taken to the hospital where it was returned to its proper place.  Very painful. She is now back at the care center and wearing a cast-like thing holding everything in place.

We are back at home in SC and my sister is in Florida with her.

  I will be going back again soon.
🌴 🌴 🌴
Yesterday was exciting, a coast-to-coast total eclipse of the sun!  We were only a few miles from the epicenter and our little town had thousands of visitors.  People were even encouraged to rent extra bedrooms to visitors, which many did.
We stayed away from the crowds downtown and brought chairs to the nearby church parking lot which is lined with big old shade trees and a clear viewing area in the middle. 
 Everywhere people were sitting out in their yards, alone or in groups, watching the show.  It was touch-and-go all day weather-wise, but in the end we got lucky.  There were constant breaks in the clouds and we watched the whole thing.  At one point, as the light dimmed, the mosquitos came out and started biting.  Finally, it was dark as night -- for ONE MINUTE!  We could see the full corona around the sun and take off our glasses for one minute, which I did and took this photo.
The corona was just a thin line of light around the edge.  In the photo, the light became larger than the darkened center for some reason.  At the moment everything went dark, you could hear people shouting all over the neighborhood.  Shortly after that the clouds moved back in and the sun was obscured the rest of the day!
☀️☀️🌞☀️☀️
Our first lime, a Tahitian, ripened this week.  I've never grown citrus before and we've waited three summers for the first fruit. I feel like a proud parent or something.  







The Writer knew just what to do with it! 
 It was so ripe it fell off the tree and we both agreed -- it's the lime-i-est lime we ever tasted.  It's also huge, as you can see by my hand.  
🍋 🍋 🍋

And finally ... my book is coming along.  All the letters are transcribed (including many V-Mail letters which had to be read with a magnifying glass). I found some great surprises in the letters and I think the book is going to be even more interesting than I thought.  I'm ready to start the researching phase and I love to do research so I'm looking forward to that. 
When I've been working on it all day, it takes me a while to get back into the real world. 
 Isn't that crazy? 

18 comments:

  1. No eclipse here, just rain. Sorry about your Mom, that's scary. The Margaritas look good. I'm thinking we need a lime tree.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great that you were able to see the Total Eclipse.............I think the next one like this will be in 100 years.
    You, Paul and I will certainly be "digging up daisies" then - ha ha.

    Sorry to learn of your Mother's mishap.
    Cheers
    Colin

    ReplyDelete
  3. Here in Michigan, we got about 80% covered during the eclipse. I was at work on a phone conference with other Midwesterners. At 2:20, we all put on phones on hold, put on our eclipse glasses and ran outside our office buildings to watch the show. It got a little dim but that was it. Not dark enough to capture the cool shadows.
    BTW, the flower is a hibiscus.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We had 74% eclipse here in California.. and that is hibiscus..

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm sorry to hear of your Mom's set back. All the best to her. You are very lucky to see the eclipse as you did.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lucky you had a full eclips with darkness aswell. I have watched one here once but the light didn't went out. That is what everyone always wants to experience. Wish you all the best with your mother and your book.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's a hibiscus plant...common in Florida

    ReplyDelete
  8. never seen it here if i am not mistaking(from Asia Pakistan) yet it is so beautiful and has unique look!

    wishing you dear mom a complete pain free health and life ahead my friend!
    .this lime juice looks INVITING!

    i am so glad and can imagine your excitement ,hope your book does sooooo well in future

    ReplyDelete
  9. THANK YOU for sharing the photo of eclipse i saw it once in my childhood in northern areas of my country though don't remember it was full? yet i remember that for few moments it seemed like dark evening in mid day time

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm so sorry about your mom. That must have been very painful. Hope she does well. I just knew that you would be out there experiencing the eclipse. We didn't get the solar glasses and really didn't get that excited until it happened. It was kind of eerie. I loved seeing the shadows! That lime is big and pretty and those drinks, wow! would hot the spot!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dear Cynthia, here, too, it was a total solar eclipse. A marvelous experience.

    I'm glad your book is going well. I so look forward to reading it. Peace.

    ReplyDelete
  12. You have been busy lately. As others have said the flower is a hibiscus, they are very common here . WE didn't even have a hint of an eclipse down here. It must have been an eerie experience.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am so sorry to hear of your Mother's set back, I hope her pain is minimal. Sounds like you had a good eclipse experience. That Hibiscus is lovely :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hope your Mother is doing ok? I was in Australia for the Eclipse, it was fun to read all the comments about how left out the Aussies felt, as it was not visible from there, we only got 8 hours of darkness. I think you would enjoy this comment I read that 'the eclipse was just more fake news from America' Oh you have to laugh :)
    Wren x

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sorry to hear of your Mum's set back. It sounds terribly painful. It must be so difficult for you when you have to leave her and return home. Sounds like that book is going to be a great success. Delighted you took on the challenge.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I am so sorry to hear about your Mother. I hope she's doing better.

    You were so lucky to have a full eclipse. One thing people around here took away from the eclipse (we only had a partial) was just how bright our sun is. We couldn't see any darkness on the surface of the sun and the skies looked hazy not dark. It was still definitely worth viewing.

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is a really good idea that you have going on.






    หนังตลก

    ReplyDelete