Time to be

On a usual lazy summer day clouds are our playmates guiding us through imaginative games where cats turn into house, dogs into airplanes, horses into dragons, streaming by like mystical creatures on a carousel.  On August 21, clouds were to be scrutinized, studied, approached with apprehension, ultimately  avoided.

Early morning we packed for a day at the beach: food, towels, beach umbrellas, water, eclipse glasses, hoping first to greet the sun on its amazing journey as it poked above the ocean's horizon.

thick grey billowing clouds overtook the sky. The sun did not come out behind it's hiding place as dawn turned to day.

And so

Time to become

eclipse chasers
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Driving west, thick clouds hovered everywhere
Driving farther west  clouds turn to wisps of white
Driving west we reach Columbia, SC our safe haven to find other eclipse chasers from PA, MASS, GA, FL, NY and Hawaii
all joined in a spirit of  awe, sharing, laughing waiting, watching,
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1:13 The eclipse begins. Lying down with glasses on. Clouds, there are clouds we cannot see the sun. All are hushed.
1:16 A faint shape, a small crescent appears behind a thin cloud.A cry of delight: she's here, she's here. Excitement.

The clouds roll by leaving sky, pure open sky
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For 90 minutes
the moon gracefully glides across the sky to join with the sun
as dancers in an ancient ballet of the galaxy.
Bringing with them the grey tint of daytime dusk
A breeze, a chill



For 90 minutes
A ragtag tribe celebrates this breathtaking slow dance of the cosmos
Some with shared telescopes, others with  faces turned toward the heavens,  still  others with makeshift pin hole illuminations to delight the children in all of us.
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For 2 minutes 36 seconds
The moon and sun become one
For all to see with our naked eyes and souls
Dragonflies hover in manic frenzy
Birds fly forward, break formation scurrying westward
as the elegant, gorgeous, perfect pool of deephearted blackness,  with her partner providing the shimmering glow
stop to take a bow

A cheer, a gasp, and tears. All join in the spirit of sharing this glorious brief time of perfection
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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.

Looking 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

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.



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