News Trend Seeking Totality|Actual

We are off in pursuit of the Great American Eclipse!

Our sights are set on a sandy butte in central Wyoming that will hopefully be removed from the biggest solar-viewing crowds but still smack dab in the Path of Totality, where the total eclipse will be seen.

Today I headed off on this grand adventure with my husband, my fourth-born, my trusty red dog and of course, our highly-coveted eclipse glasses that we snagged from Amazon back in May.

We crossed our home state of Washington on the diagonal, zipped across the northwest corner of our sister state, Oregon, and wound south and east through Idaho to the fair city of Twin Falls where we stopped for the night.

As soon as we dropped our bags in the hotel, I grabbed my super long leash and headed outdoors with my enthusiastic dog

We wandered through the open fields surrounding the hotel as the sun burned low in the sky, and while this brilliant red orb is pretty much the opposite of the shadowed solar phenomenon that we've come to see, I can't help but think we are headed in right direction.

* * * * *

Here's the full story of my odyssey to the Great American Solar Eclipse

Seeking Totality

Approaching Totality

Ready For Totality

Experiencing Totality

Remembering Totality

News Trend Remembering Totality|Actual

Here is a story full of sweet memories and miracles.

It all began last week as I headed out to Wyoming to see the solar eclipse.

During the long drive to our viewing site, my mind had plenty of time to wander, and I found my thoughts turning time and again to my last eclipse experience.

I was a very little girl, just four years old, and it was summer time. My mom told me that the sun was going to hide behind the moon, and the sky would get dark. My dad, who was still around at the time and wildly enthusiastic about astronomical events, cautioned me to not look at the sun.

I vaguely remembered that he had built some kind of a viewer and instructed us to observe the phenomenon there instead. This was only a partial eclipse, so  when I tiptoed up to look at his device, I saw the funny little partial circle of the sun and not much else. The partial circle was indeed changing, but oh so slowly.

What I mostly remember is that the entire afternoon made me feel inexplicably strange and uncomfortable.

* * * * *

Those memories were still rattling around in my mind as we settled in to watch the 2017 eclipse, and as the moon slowly began to hide the sun, I understood my childish impatience.

When the moon had covered about half of the sun, the remaining sunlight gradually took on a harsh, diminished tone. The air darkened, the shadows gained a strange quality that felt metallic and shiny to me. Suddenly, in a snap, I realized that I remembered this phenomenon from my childhood eclipse. The weird silvery light from the faded sun is what had made me feel so disoriented and uncomfortable, and my memories of that day suddenly made perfect sense.

* * * * *

After our two-day journey home from Wyoming, we rolled into our driveway and hauled our weary selves into the house. All still in a state of shock and awe from what we had seen, my husband decided to take the practical step of sorting out the mail. "Here," he pushed a green envelope in my hand. "This has an eclipse stamp on it. Open it first."

I admired the stamp and then looked at the return address.

No. No way. It couldn't be.

But it was.

This was a letter from my long-lost early-childhood friend, Marilyn. I had not heard from her since her family moved away when I was ten years old.

In a new state of shock, I ripped open the envelope, unfolded the paper, and read  her opening sentence:

Dear Diane,

The United States lies in the path of a total solar eclipse this year, and I remember watching the progress of one in your backyard on a white viewer your dad built.

No. No way! I had not remembered her being there at all

And in a snap, I suddenly remembered this too. Marilyn and her family had indeed spent the afternoon at my house on that day and now another huge piece of my childhood eclipse memories fell into place.

My reunion with Marilyn has been delightful. How can it be that so much time has passed since we were two little girls playing in the woods? And how can it be that once we catch up on the biographical details, we discover that we are simply those two little girls grown up?

But when it came to our childhood eclipse, Marilyn still held one more surprise for me.

No. No possible way. But it was true.

Impossibly, miraculously, Marilyn sent me a photo of my dad's eclipse-watching contraption. And in yet another snap, I feel the cool grass on my toes as I stretched up to look at the funny little partial circle on the viewing board. I smell the blossoms of the Bird of Paradise tree in our backyard, and I hear the creak of the swings on our swing set as we played and waited for something more interesting to happen.

What had recently been nothing but a vague and hazy memory is now a day that comes alive in my mind. Thanks to my recent experience of totality, and the magic of Marilyn's memories, I can now reconnect with exactly what my four-year-old self saw and felt and understood during that partial eclipse, all those many years ago.

This photo was taken in my backyard on July 20, 1963.

And that funny little shape you see on the white board is a partial eclipse of the sun

I cannot explain how all of these miracles have come to be. But I find myself wondering if those moments I spent gazing up at that impossibly beautiful total solar eclipse might just have filled my life with magic.

* * * * *

Here's the full story of my odyssey to the Great American Solar Eclipse

Seeking Totality

Approaching Totality

Ready For Totality

Experiencing Totality

Remembering Totality

News Trend Experiencing Totality|Actual

I stood up on the hilltop.

Soft Wyoming air whispered around me, strangely still, strangely cool for an August morning.

I glanced around at the strange shadows at my feet. The quality of the light was surreal - faded and brassy.

Slipping my cardboard eclipse glasses back over my eyes, I looked back at the eclipsing sun. Only a tiny crescent of her light still shone out from behind the moon, and in an instant, I watched the last golden glimmer fade away until everything around me was black.

I felt an unexpected sense of sadness. Or fear. Of loss.

Either my husband or a voice deep inside me said, "Take off your glasses."

So I did

And in that instant, the world was transformed.

Pulsing in the sky above me was nothing I've ever imagined. The deep dark circle at the center was surrounded by a ring of silver light. These dancing, glowing arms illuminated the heavens and I could not take my eyes off them.

In a flash, I clapped my hand over my mouth - a gesture I've never made before. Tears began to roll down my face.

"Look all around you."

The colors of sunset softened the horizons in every direction. The mountains lay reflected in the lake, and the colors were doubled in that reflection.

The sky was deep blue, like the regular sky just after sunset, soft and dusky.

The pulsing silver light poured down, transforming the ordinary landscape into impossible beauty.

I was not expecting this.

I was not ready for this.

And while this may sound extreme, I knew as I stood on that hilltop, turning round and round to drink in this astounding sight as the tears fell down my face, that I will never be the same again.

For now I feel like I've seen the face of God.

And I'm not at all afraid to die

Because today, I do believe I got a glimpse of heaven.

* * * * *

Here's the full story of my odyssey to the Great American Solar Eclipse

Seeking Totality

Approaching Totality

Ready For Totality

Experiencing Totality

Remembering Totality

News Trend Pretty Postcards|Actual

Oh, what's this?

Another pretty postcard in the mail today.

From Daughter Number Three.

She and some of her teacher friends took advantage of a few days' break from school for a wee vacation. And knowing that I am a postcard aficionado, she thoughtfully sent several my way.

Looks like she's having a fun time.

Eating

Shopping

Visiting some historical sites

Posting generously to her Instagram stories.

I'm glad she's having a good time.

* * * * *

It's only at this point in my reverie that the truth reaches my brain.

My daughter is vacationing in Tawain.

Taiwan!

A place that five years ago, I would have been hard-pressed to find on a map.

A country that is completely and utterly foreign to me.

An exotic land far away across the Pacific.

And, at least in my imagination,

A mysterious part of the deep and menacing Chinese empire.

But so accustomed have I become to my tiny daughter's globetrotting ways that her spending a week in Taiwan seems like a perfectly ordinary thing to do.

Now my pretty postcards are tiny reminders of my daughter's bold adventures and her courageous spirit.

I'm very proud of her.

News Trend Paved Paradise|Actual

My fourth-born built me a patio.

Pretty cool, right?

To be fair, she had a solid head start. This area of our backyard was already designated as the fire pit zone and lined with a deep bed of river rock.

Which looked nice. But felt none too comfortable on our bare feet.

So when my daughter noticed a heap of flagstone leftover from several other paving projects, she said, "Hey, do you think there's enough rock to redo the fireplace patio?"

And thus an idea was born.

^ The short answer was, no. There were not quite enough stones on hand to do the job. But after an afternoon of laying out what we had, and puzzle piecing those stones into a pleasing configuration, my daughter had a good idea of what we needed.

And the next day we headed to the stone yard for six more stones.

Also loaded up 900 pounds of sand.

^ And that evening, my determined daughter built me a pation.

^Well. She got it all done except for the final top coat of sand. We hosed that into place the next day.

^ In just 48 hours, our new patio went from plan to perfection, and our tender toes, I can promise you, are very happy with the results.

^ Baby, however, still prefers the bushes.

News Trend My New Dog's Name|Actual

As I've spent countless hours these past weeks considering a name for this new dog of mine, my mother, Grace, keeps coming to mind.

My mom loved dogs.

Adored them

Doted on them

Fed them snacks

Took them for walks

And talked to them as most people only talk to their very best friends.

But in her whole life, my mom owned just one dog.

Granted, he was a champ. Hillpoint Shamrock Kelly, the hero of Ore Lake, was the Irish Setter of my childhood and my mother's beloved companion during a very difficult time in her life. He was, as she often said, the dog of dogs and after he died, she never wanted another.

I understood that. Losing a dog you love is a heartbreak that only other dog lovers can understand. It's painful beyond words and we all have that moment of grief where we think, No. This is too much. I was a fool to fall in love with a creature who lives ten years if I'm lucky, And I will never put my heart in harm's way like this again.

But this desperation usually passes.

And we remind ourselves that the joy of a dog's company is worth the pain, and the tears we cry are simply proof of our dog's unquestioning devotion and boundless love.

So when the time is right, we open our hearts to a new dog and life goes happily on.

But not for my mom.

She loved her grand dogs, and often enthusiastically told me stories about good dogs she met here and there.

But she never, ever got another dog.

And that always made me sad for her.

* * * * *

I will be honest. When this new dog came into my life, I was not ready for her. Barely six months had passed since I lost my Ranger and my heart was still full of his memories. I figured I needed another year to made room for a new pup.

But what could I do? Here was a dog - an Irish Setter, for crying out loud - who needed me.  I had no logical reason to turn her down. Still, a fearful voice inside me pleaded, No! This is crazy. I'm not ready for this yet.

And that's when my mom came to my mind. What she reminded me, in a gift straight from heaven, is to not be afraid.

She reminded me to trust.

She reminded me that putting your heart on the line for a big red dog is always worth the risk.

And she encouraged me to take the flying leap into this new dog's life.

So I did.

And now, to remind myself of my mom's gifts, I've given my new dog her name.

Meet Gracie.

News Trend Adorable|Actual

No, but she really is.

What I noticed first were the pop up headlights and faded red paint.  She rumbled throaty and low, rolling up to the stop sign. Though she must have been a glorious 80s muscle car in her day, the old girl was looking beat up and mean.

I noticed the car as I was crossing the opposite side of the intersection. My dog, Gracie, sailed along at my side, alert and observant, far more interested in the people walking up ahead than the traffic.

But my horrified attention was glued to the car.

Dirty windows rolled down.

Country tunes bumping.

A hairy male forearm hanging out the passenger window and holding on to the roof, trucker style.

The shabby old relic blew off the stop line and swerved across the cross walk that Gracie and I had just cleared.

Despite my love of old cars and uexcessive acceleration, I cringed as the beast rolled by. I tried not to listen to the rough, swaggering voices I heard as the two twenty-something men inside shouted over their music.

But suddenly I realized they were talking to me.

Took my mind a moment to sort out their message, but after that split second, I turned to them, smiled, and waved to my newfound friends.

"Your dog's adorable!" is what they had said.