On our way Plan D

this is what I wrote in my note pad at around noon, one hour before the eclipse began

On a usual lazy summer day, clouds are  friends in the sky. They provide a meditative exploration as we imagine cats turning into hats, dogs into witches, horses  into dragons, all the while streaming by like creatures on a carousel. And we have not a care in the world.

But on August 21, 2017 clouds were to be watched, studied, and approached with anxiety and ultimately to be avoided.  This was certainly the case as we drove west to find the best place to see the sun and moon that was in the last flourish of their tango of celestial beauty.

Now Shanna and I are settled into a grassy area of Riverfront Park and Canal in Columbia South Carolina to watch this work of the artist, scientist, philosopher, poet known as 'Our galaxy'.

there is a prayer in the Hebrew liturgy that goes
Mah Gahdlu Ma' asecha  Yah  M'od Amku Mashevotechah
How great are your works, God, and how deep

But why Columbia, not Charleston?

If you have been reading the blog post Plan A, B, C and beyond, you know that the beyond involved chasing the eclipse to a place with the best chance of seeing the totality.. Early Monday morning we packed up for the day, hoping first to see the sunrise on the beach, then later to see the eclipse. But the thick grey clouds overtook the sky so much that even the sunrise was masked. AFter checking Professor google on 3 different devices, the decision was to get the hell out of Charleston and head west. How far west was to be decided as it looked like all along the way were the clouds that we needed to avoid.

Since we were leaving early  there was surprising little  traffic considering that others were likely coming to the same conclusion that we were. As a result we were able to make several stops. One was in Harleyville  a town of less that 2 square miles and less than 700 folk. The gas station and grocery/deli (would they call it a deli?) was probably the center of town
I say to the cook, "Those biscuits look good".
"Can you tell us how you make the eggs?" (thank you Shanna for thinking they might have used bacon grease or some kind of pork product}
To the cashier (owner?)"What are you going to do today?"
"Not going to look at that thing", he said pointing to the picture of the eclipse in the local paper.
Wish I had given him one of my extra pair of eclipse glasses.



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