Scattered Thoughts . . .

O kay, this is the blog entry I've been anticipating for the past month or two.  This was more than likely my last total solar eclipse so I wanted to make sure I document it as best as I can.   I've seen one or two other solar eclipses but not the way we viewed this one.  The next one in our area won't occur for another 30 years so, being realistic, it is highly unlikely I'll be around to see that one especially considering my health.  We got to see this one though and we even got to share this with our two oldest grandchildren, Lukey and Kenzie.  We always enjoy our time with Lukey and Kenzie but sharing this event with them made for an even more memorable experience.   Another thing that made this eclipse special is that we had good weather for it even though it was April in Waterbury.  We are usually socked in under clouds with precipitation falling from the sky from November through April so we got incredibly lucky for this event. ___________________________________

T oday is an exceptionally rare clear, sunny March day so I immediately collected some astronomy gear to bring outside.  There are a few things I want to try before the solar eclipse next month.  Really, I need all the practice I can get.  The weather has been so miserable for the past year that I haven't done any solar astronomy in almost a year! The temperature this morning was still only in the upper 30s (it is early March, after all) but I was comfortable in just a fleece sweatshirt.  Being comfortable helps.  Well...  I wasn't completely comfortable...  I'm still experiencing significant spinal pain and I'm still having difficulty putting weight on my right leg without my knee buckling underneath me.  I was more comfortable than I have been lately though so that helped. I set up the new SolarQuest mount in the backyard in the same area where we'll be observing the eclipse next month.  I could have used a small table too but I didn't feel like digging one ou

W e had planned to go to a rather unique diner after skating at Bryant Park during our trip to Manhattan at Christmastime.  Actually, we had each of our meals planned for our entire trip, even our breakfasts.  After skating at Bryant park, we walked the few blocks to this diner on Broadway only to find that the line to get into the diner was wrapped around the building and then, as we peered around the corner, we noticed the line was more than a block long!  Instead of waiting on that very long line in the brutal wind and frigid temperatures, we headed to Junior's diner one or two blocks closer to Times Square.  We had only a 10 minute wait there so we had breakfast there.   Skating at Bryant Park was later than our skating reservation at Rockefeller Center so, by the time we left Bryant Park, we were well into the busy time for breakfast.  I was hoping we would still be early enough to avoid the big crowds but we were not!  Fortunately, I had a few restaurants in mind as backups t

This is another blog entry with a lot of photos and a short video down at the bottom of the page. N ot only did Gee and Kenzie get to skate at Rockefeller Center but we also scheduled an early morning skating session at Bryant Park.  Of course, Lukey was supposed to skate with them on both days but he was on crutches with a broken foot so he stuck with me during the skating sessions.   This session at Bryant Park wasn't as early as the session we had previously at Rockefeller Center but it was their earliest session of the day for Bryant Park.  We figured that the crowd would be thinner earlier in the morning plus the ice would be best first thing in the morning.  The temperatures reached into the 40s during the day while we were there which isn't so great for ice, however, the ice would have a chance to freeze well through the night when nobody was skating on it and the temperatures were down around freezing again.  By the end of the day, both rinks had been soft with puddles