Yes, I knew it was coming; they’ve been talking about it for months. That once in a lifetime event on Monday August 21, 2017, a solar eclipse coming to a neighborhood near you!  Once in a lifetime, counting from when the last total solar eclipse crossed the contiguous USA in 1918.  But those from the Northwest may recall the eclipse in 1979, something of a non-event in the Seattle area because of cloudy skies. Clear skies are in the forecast for Monday, so this will be something to see.  Or not, read on.

No, Seattle is not in the path of totality;  for that we’d have to travel to Oregon, along with the other billions so headed, resulting in unprecedented traffic, which for this area is saying a lot. Honestly, I’m not that desperate.

Still, according to those in the know, we will experience 93% totality here, that time when the moon will almost completely block out the sun, starting at 9:08 am and bringing darkness at 10:20 a.m.  Silly girl, don’t you want to see that??  Of course I do!  Oh why then did I wait so long to get those eclipse glasses?  The event of a lifetime overhead but I can’t look up!

There are still a few places this weekend where they will be handing out the coveted glasses until supplies run out. I will head to one of them and hope for the best.  We shall see (no pun intended.)  If I’m not one of the lucky ones, I guess I could build my own viewing device no matter how hokey it may appear; instructions abound on the internet. But is watching a shadow on a piece of cardboard really the same? I think not.

For a planner like me, I sure blew this one.  How about the rest of you?  Do you have plans to watch the solar eclipse?

~ Susanne