Saturday 21 March 2015

Eclipse Memories

Hello Lovelies,
if you are in the U.K. or probably other parts of Europe too, you will know we had a partial eclipse of the sun yesterday.
It's the first solar eclipse my boys have experienced and they wanted to know what it would be like. 

Back in 1999 I had witnessed and recorded a very similar eclipse and I knew there were photos I could show them, somewhere in one of  my MANY photo albums from the days of film.

Eventually I located the right one. Here it is.........


I must have been really taken with this phenomenon as there were no fewer than 8 photos slipped into the cellophane pockets, with little hand written notes on slips of paper between them...........

that was quiet a lot in the days when you had to consider film and developing costs..

This one made me smile. It says " Henry using the recommended viewing method - A mirror in an envelope with a small hole. Direct at white paper.".........


Ah Henry my lovely big Tabby and white cat....he was such a beautiful boy...and a real character who charmed everybody he met.............



Here's the image of that solstice he was viewing ....using the recommended method :0)


This is a pretty rubbish photo of a photo, but you get the idea.

I have to smile at the messy background to this photo too......staging / cropping...what's that?

 still, blogging hadn't even been invented then had it 

Here are some more pictures . My observations were " Temperature drops by 10 degrees C. Cats club together- unusual!"


We had two cats in those days.....Henry and George, my " babies" . They were not related and  never really liked each other. So this sight was quiet unusual, especially outdoors.......... 



I can remember on the day how eerily quiet it went when the eclipse was at it's fullest. All the birds stopped singing. I was hoping it would get really dark, but on a cloudless summers day, and only 90 percent of totality, that wasn't the case.

My notes say " Light level drops and it's very quiet. Definite shadows but not bright - cold light"........


Looking at this photo now, I'm not studying the effect of the eclipse, but recalling a time when this space was a real passion of mine...another "baby" if you like........

That day in August 99  I was 33 years old and I had no children.
I didn't know if I ever would ever have any real babies to love.

But by the end of the year I was pregnant with, not one but two babies....and the following summer my garden looked like this........ Caption here " one days washing!"


It was so nice to see these pictures again. To show my boys the eclipse before they were born. To smile at pets fondly remembered. To feel truly blessed at how my life has turned out so far. 

Yesterday I was at work and didn't see the eclipse at all, but I was very happy my boys were able to go outside at school, to stand around in the playground with their mates and peer at pinhole images of the crescent sun. It's something they will probably remember for a long time....even though they didn't seen greatly impressed with the whole thing!
Jacquie x

p.s. Louise has posted some stunning  photos of yesterday's eclipse HERE do take a look.

25 comments:

  1. That last photo brings back memories for me,,, I have twin boys too!

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  2. It seems like such a long time ago now that the only way we could have photographs was if we took them and got them developed - now we can snap away to our heart's content and just delete the ones we don't like. Lovely memories! xx

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  3. I remember the 99 eclispe so well. I was 9 months pregnant with my first child and we drove to Devon, a four hour journey. The Dr recommended I take my hospital notes and overnight bag in case the baby decided to come. It was wonderful seeing the eclipse so eerie and my daughter was a good gi coming just a few days later Ahhh memories...

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  4. I have no shots of the 1999 eclipse as I was working but I have loads of memories so I'm going to do a compare and contrast bit of journalling for the new one. I love how your focus was on what was happening around youj rather than the eclipse itself. I have some funny stories for my journalling of playing with colanders, my mums expression and my dad being a right old Victor Meldrew lol.
    Jo xxx

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  5. This is such a lovely heartwarming post. I had to giggle at the "staging and cropping comment". So true! :).

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  6. Ah yes, the days of film, I remember it well. We are so spoiled now. lol It is wonderful looking back at those before children days and after, what a difference those tiny people bring into our lives. I remember watching an eclipse as a child at school, so I'm sure your boys will remember it too. Didn't get to experience this one but nice to see it here in blogland. (I do not miss those large-everyday wash days!) ; D

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  7. Its lovely to go through the old photo albums (I really must get some of my photos printed and put into albums once again). I can remember my dad filming us, my son toddling and my daughter a couple of months away. Scary how quickly 16 years can disappear. Take care x

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  8. I have seen the eclipse here in Holland and it was amazing! I made pictures as Well. ITS always nice to look back in old albums, isnt it?

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  9. I love looking at old photo albums, it was to cloudy here yesterday to see but it did get quite dark, not a bird in the sky and funnily enough our cats were acting very oddly for them, natures knows. Love the shot of the washing line.
    Clare xx

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  10. I remember the '99 eclipse but didn't see anything yesterday here in Dorset. Your washing line back then looks like mine did last summer! X

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  11. I took Matt out in his pram to say we'd watched the eclipse together in 1999. :) There really wasn't much to see here, other than grey clouds! It went a bit dark, and felt a bit odd, but nothing spectacular. Lovely to see your old photos. x

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  12. What a sweet post full of neat memories. I'm happy for you that you had your boys. Your blog friend got some really neat eclipse shots. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  13. Your boys were lucky to get let out! The school I worked at 'did' the eclipse properly, with pinhole cameras and everybody outside to watch, but my own children at secondary school were left inside because going out would have 'disrupted their education' too much. As if.

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  14. How lovely to look back and see the photos from last time. Two of my boys were allowed to watch it at school, but the middle boy wasn't, I was quite annoyed about that, he would have absolutely loved it, he'd been reading his stargazing book all week. CJ xx

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  15. I think it's amazing how an eclipse links us so strongly to the last time we saw one and we remember who was there and how we were feeling. It's quite a thing isn't it. Lovely to hear your memories and have a glimpse how life was. X

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  16. That was a lovely post. My how organised you were writing those notes in your album. My photos are just in boxes.

    How lovely white nappies blowing on the line. That brings back the memories!

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  17. Forgot to say what beautiful cats. Funny I had cats that didn't get on too even after twenty years

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  18. Down in our part of the country it was very overcast so nothing to see. The temperature did drop though and it seemed to get a bit darker. I remember the 1999 eclipse well, my husband was in hospital recovering from a heart attack and we watched it together from the hospital ward.

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  19. It was total cloud cover here, so no eclipse for us. I miss the days of film where you could see random things in the back ground of a photo, you know, before you deleted it and took another 6 or like you say 'stage' and crop photos x

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  20. We were in Devon for the 1999 eclipse, where it was total. I remember it well as cloud was a huge problem but we were in the right place and got lucky as the clouds parted for a little while at the right time. What I remember most is the atmosphere as darkness fell - all the chatter stopped and we stood in eerie silence for those few minutes! It was brilliant! I don't have any photos from that one, though I expect my dad will (he's an astronomer!).

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  21. Wonderful post. We were also in Devon when we saw the last eclipse, watching from my parents garden
    Julie xxxxxxxx

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  22. Wasn't it an experience? But the solar eclipse in 1999 was way more impressing, as it was a total one here in Germany. Wow!

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  23. Oh what fantastic memories you have,LOVE the mogs of course lol.Your pics are brilliant and thank you so much for sharing with us.xx

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  24. Lovely memories indeed! I've missed this eclipse because it was cloudy here, too bad...

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  25. Glad you got your babies to love. Me too at 31 then at 39.5
    Am I the only one that has never seen an eclipse. Where was I?
    I love washing line pics as they can tell a good story. I have enjoyed your memories and I must say you are a great washer as your whites are so white.

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