We had just set up our tent at the quiet edge of Carlyle Lake in Illinois when I noticed a LARGE cloud of insects not far from our site. My heart sank. What did we get ourselves into? I cautiously walked over to check it out fearing I would get attacked. Instead, I watched in utter amazement as the group of insects hovered and swayed, dancing in total unison. How they maintained that unison was beyond me. It looked like a well orchestrated performance.
Needless to say, I was elated to discover that they were nice neighbors that kept to themselves. I was so touched by their beautiful dance that I felt compelled to sketch one and write a poem about them.
Aaron and I had oodles of anticipation building up to the big day of the solar eclipse here in Missouri! We volunteered at Busch Wildlife Conservation Area in St. Charles county for the event and had an absolute blast! Everyone was so excited and happy - and appreciative of our efforts. How nice!
I managed to get a few things down in a flip book style journal. For the 'I Notice' tab, I ended up tracing the image of the eclipse through a spotting scope. The first attempt at tracing was completed on a handheld clip board. As you can see, it did not look that great. After setting up and using a table to help steady the clip board and my hand, it made a world of difference with the outcome.
Every time I traced the eclipse, the speed of the moon just blew me away! It was a challenge to keep up with it! I had to trace the image quickly to try and get the most accurate picture possible. I felt an intimate connection to this cosmic phenomena by tracing it as it was actually occurring!
The temperature changes were fascinating to me too. I am glad I was able to record that as well. We experienced a high of 91F at 11:30 am and drop to 86.2F at 1:30 pm.
When the eclipse reached totality and I looked at the sky - it was surreal! I have never seen the sky look like that before - dark on top and pinks and oranges around the horizon. Venus and Jupiter popped out! Emotions flooded my entire being. All I could think of was - our God is an awesome God!
