Links to the 150th Anniversary

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Eclipse, Charlottesville, Charleston the beginnings

A surprising confluence of events has merged to create this need to continue my writing. In 4 days the sun and moon will join together to hide the sun's glare during the day for a solar eclipse. In the US it will start in  Salem Oregon and with a brilliant show dance its way east and south to end in Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston, the spark that lit the fuse of the bloody Civil War.

And now the spark has been lit again with the violent  terror in Charlottesville, Virginia where last Friday and Saturday, 100s of white supremicists and neo nazis marched  with torches and bats and guns to a murderous end. They shouted  "Jews will not replace us" and Take our nation back.

So here on the eve of the sun demurring to the lovely moon, darkness reigns over the country with a president whose only thought is that 'I am being treated unfairly'. I, I , I.

That is the setting for this much anticipated trip which began innocently enough after a conversation with my friend Karin who told me about the eclipse sometime back in May. "Come with me to Portland" she said. A once in a lifetime experience, a chance to go to Portland, and a new found sense of ' go do it',. I said YES.  After some research that the total eclipse was going to be 100 some miles south of Portland and that the only hotel left was not even close, I started to lose my interest.

united states august 2017 total solar eclipse times locations map nasaLooking at maps of the eclipse that were now all over Facebook and the news, I saw that Charleston SC was right in the path. Charleston, where the Federal army defended Fort Sumter, and under siege and attack was defeated; Charleston, the heart of one of the oldest synagogues and now home to a vibrant Jewish community; Charleston, a city of plantations, parks, slave auctions, coastline beaches,southern humidity and heat.

Charleston, where there were still reasonably priced hotels and yes, an AirBnb.

I became excited and started planning.




Wilson NC and the whirligigs

Image may contain: sky and outdoor
Many youtube versions to see them in motion.
In planning the trip, my friend Shanna came to mind. She  lives in North Carolina,4 hours from Charleston so I thought it would be nice to go there as a stopover on the way to driving to Charleston. This took on a new turn when she asked if she could come along.

She lives in Wilson, NC about 1 hour east of Raleigh. Not much in the town, but one of their beloved residents Vollis Simpson, a veteran, a welder and clearly a man of whimsy and imagination  donated his intricate, charming whirligigs to the city which will all be on display starting  in 2018. The park is under construction, so many all already creating delight for those who happen to be in town.

http://art.unc.edu/event/vollis-simpson-whirligigs



Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim

As we arrive and get our bearings, I press ahead to go to Kahal Kodesh Beth Elohim {KKBE}synagogue services which start at 8:00. It’s 7:45  On this ride, I find out that Downtown Charleston is a 15 minute car ride away.
The building is on one of the old small cross streets, a large white imposing neo classical style building hidden behind iron fencing. Entering through the gate a small courtyard  leads  to what is now the entrance.To the left are the original massive doors   at least 8 feet wide and 12 feet high. They give the impression of a castle fortress guarding against the hoards., but these are common throughout Charleston.

The evening is full of song and spirit of two synagogues praying together for their annual combined service. Two Rabbis from the Reform and one from the traditional synagogue lead and sing together and present a word of wisdom related to Torah.

The most dramatic moment of the evening, though was at the end of the service when I walked over to thank the rabbi. She was busy with others, so I turned to leave and 4 rows back was my friend Tali from Silver Spring Maryland.

Real news/Fake news

August 21
Real news

  1. 10 sailors remain unaccounted for; Navy orders global "operational pause.".
  2. 1 killed and 25 injured as quake strikes popular Italian tourist island of Ischia, off Naples
  3. More children likely to be diagnosed with high blood pressure. 
  4. The US Secret Service budget remains stretched thin
  5. Senate Majority Leader McConnell: "The way forward" on Obamacare "is somewhat murky.
  6. Millions come together and look to the sky for a shared historic celestial event.
  7. Pres. Trump promises victory in 16-year war in Afghanistan

Fake news
  1. Fewer kitten and baby pictures seen on Facebook than at any other time in history

Plan A, B, C and beyond

As we made our ways from James Island where we were staying southwest to the beach and east into the heart of Charleston, we would spot good places to be during the eclipse. In all honesty, any place where there was a clear view of a 1-3 pm sky would do, but some places were more attractive than others. Here were our choices.

Plan A:  1/4 mile away was a golf course that was inviting people onto the greens. Apparently they were still having tee times, but figured that no one would be able to golf in the darkness. Pros: convenient, Cons: but not that interesting.

Plan B: For cool factor: the beach!  How does this sound. Wake up early and travel the 9 miles/20 minutes in time to see the sunrise. Then hang on the beach and watch from there. Pros. It's the beach, open sky, coolness of seeing the sun rise and the sun obscured. Cons.Staying on the beach all day-it was a scorching hot and humin week and we didn't have a good umbrella.

Plan C: Somewhere in the neighborhood: Some of the other folks in the house were going to a small park. Pros: Convenient  Cons: Not sure about the weather.

Plan D: Getting the heck out of town if the weather was looking bad. The predictions were for storms right over Charleston. Pros: Better likelihood of finding a spot with less cloud cover. Cons: who knew how far west we'd have to drive, and who knew what the traffic would be.


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.





Nature Rules

August 21, 2017  1 AM. I wake up with the memory of the night before the Appomattox Surrender reenactment and day long activities on April 9, 2015.

On April 7,  I met some folks from town who graciously invited me, a total stranger, to stay at their home right in town. Since the events the next day began at 7:00 and my hotel was a 40 minute drive away, this was a great gift that I was happy to accept.

The  evening of April 8, I  attended a reenactment at a site that had just been documented recently. AFterwards we were all to go to Appomattox Court House to listen to Ranger Patrick give a talk. But near the end of the reenactment, it started to rain. A Heavy rain, enough for us all to scurry to our cars. We were told that the talk would still happen, but inside the visitors center instead of as an outdoor tour.. As it turned out, a 45 minute talk turned into several hours as the knowledgable attendees asked question after question. Partrick was in his glory.

During the night the rain turned into one of the worst thunderstorm I had ever encountered, made worse in my mind perhaps by the 2 year anticipation of this culmination of  my journey. I wasn't imagining the power of this storm. This was not a slight rain that could just dampen the next days events. This was a violent thunderstorm that could literally cancel them.

 6:00 am The rains stopped. Silence. A beautiful silence.

7:00 am  on this foggy morning as the last battle of the Civil War  unfolded with Union cavalry lined up on the hill ready to charge, and more from the Army of the James to the left  surrounding the last gasp of Lee's exhausted army, Patrick opened up the morning by stating

          150 years ago at 7:00, the roads were muddy and fog moved across those fields
                 
I was reminded of that story during the night of August 20 knowing that the weather report for Charleston was for thunderstorms and the closest area without too many clouds was hours to the west. So in my imagination,  this trip that depended on nature's whims, would be thwarted and there would be no place that was clear enough to see the eclipse anywhere within driving distance.

 5:30 am We forged ahead the next morning with Plan B: the beach.

At 6:15 or so we packed up as if we were going out for the whole day. Food. Towels. sheet to sit on.Newly purchase beach umbrella. Water. Eclipse glasses.

The sunlight was evident when we made it to the water, but- oh my- enormous billowing clouds hung over the water obscuring the sunrise. The weather report called for storms in Charleston.

Let's go. We needed to change to plan D: We were to become eclipse chasers!


Those darn eclipse glasses

Went online to find out about eclipse glasses as Karin told me about the camera lenses she was buying. Amazon had several versions, so bought what seemed reasonable along with splurging on special binoculars. They came in a few days, rather flimsy cardbook like you see in the movies when watching 3-D, but the lenses are much darker. It is the density of the film that matters. The label indicated that they were ISO certified so I felt secure.

However, sometime in late July, I got a message from Amazon that these could not be guaranteed as coming from a recommended vendor and SHOULD NOT BE USED!

Yikes, back on line to the NASA website to find out what companies they recommended. There were only 3 and for one of them it was just too late to get individual glasses. Fortunately, I could get 4 at another site, albeit for more money. But heck, this is my eyes I'm talking about.

With 4 pairs of glasses and special binoculars in hand, I had what I needed.

eclipse synopsis 1


Short synopsis
I was so busy during the day and exhausted from the heat that I didn't have time to blog, but did do some writing yesterday.  We didn't trust the weather in Charleston as it did say storms and clouds, so we became eclipse chasers driving west and landing in Columbia, SC where we found the crowd at the Riverfront park with telescopes and tents and great spirit of sharing the experience together. Families of all kinds from  PA, NY, MA, GA, FL and even Hawaii (on her way to Spain). The park service was even giving away free glasses and water bottles.

Short answer: A tough first few minutes obscured behind clouds, then 2 hours of excitement and joy watching the sun disappear and then -totality-  it brought me to tears!

Driving from Wilson North Caroline



A long day, a satisfying day, an amazing day from Wilson NC to be on a road trip with Shanna as we take the long, lazy way to get to Charleston. A 4 hour trip turns into 7 or was it 8 with a stop in ‘historic' Bergaw for a McDonalds lunch. Historic? Every town in North Carolina is historic and some of it is made up [says my new Charleston housemate] Indeed, if it has a railroad depot, then it was sure to be at least a thru way for army supplies, and this town of currently under 4000 also was a way station for Civil War prisoners kept  there for a week in preparation for a prisoner exchange.
Then off to Wilmington NC home of the battleship NC and lots of cute stores. From there down Rt 17, the road that leads to beaches that we never saw. because we had a goal to get to Charleston by 8. But seeing the beautiful palm trees and live oaks that had weeping willow qualities, and sweet grass basket stands one after another, finally crossing the magnificent suspension bridge into Charleston was worth the detour.

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We find the house on James Island/Foley Beach a section to the south west of downtown Charleston. Our host Craig greats me/us with such enthusiasm, glee and a big hug-my new best friend. There are already 2 other men in the house and he introduces J. as an Uber driver who is willing to take us places if he is around. After a whirlwind of listing all the places to eat and how to get to the beach and where are the towels, and here is the beach umbrella, and stories about all the guests, we have a chance to breathe.