SUN IN OUR EYES: We've known for weeks/months now that a partial solar eclipse - with the moon blocking part of the sun - would potentially be visible to us this afternoon!
Imagine how thrilled we were when we woke to torrential rains. ...
However ... we live in Seattle, where you can get 9 months of weather in a half hour. Hope springs eternal and around 11 a.m. we had blue skies! (Surrounded by ominous gray clouds.) But hey, it was a fighting chance to see the event that was set to start around 1:30.
By early afternoon, clouds were moving in big time, but there were still breaks. And that's all we needed. Hooray!! We got to see the eclipse!
By early afternoon, clouds were moving in big time, but there were still breaks. And that's all we needed. Hooray!! We got to see the eclipse!
But honestly, the best part of it wasn't just we here at MPA getting to see it. The best part was getting to share it with neighbors and strangers on the street!
Instead of just standing on our porch or deck or looking out the window, each time we noticed the sun getting especially bright, we took our viewers up to the street and engaged passersby with the filters' magical powers. :)
The first time we went up, a neighbor was walking her dog. She saw Annabelle and me holding the visors up and, thankfully, she didn't think we were freaks. She asked about the eclipse and we handed a screen off to her and loved hearing her exhalations at what she could see. I asked her if her young daughter was at home, and she said that she was heading to school to pick her up. At that, I gave her one of our viewers and told her to share it with the kids if the clouds held at bay.
During another sun break soon after, we went back up to our sidewalk. There, we found a mother, her back to the sun, explaining to her two young sons, about ages 4 and 3. She was telling them that if they had a pinhole viewer, they could see a shadow of the eclipse. Imagine her surprise when we approached her, direct solar viewers in hand, offering a way to stare at the sun straight on!
To say she was ELATED would be an understatement. "I've never seen this in my life!" she exclaimed excitedly, passing a viewer to one of her sons. They were rapt. She handed the viewer back to us, but I insisted they use it again and keep it ... explaining we had multiples and that she'd want it for the TOTAL eclipse coming up in 2015.
Somehow, blindly sticking my camera up to a filter and randomly aiming, I managed to get a photo of the partial eclipse shortly after 2 p.m. our time.
All in all, a WONDERFUL experience!
However, on Sunday, as we were seeing a wedding guest off, we did wander over to the garden and we were shocked by what we found.
CJ had a phase where he was HEAVILY into researching the Scoville scale, used for measuring a pepper's heat, and we ordered him a hot pepper growing kit for Christmas. We planted the seeds in late spring. They produced three small plants, which we kept indoors until about June.
We've watched them ALL summer for signs of peppers, but all we ever saw was a couple of tiny blossoms. Until this weekend!
So now that we've got these peppers, what to do with them? I was afraid to even pick them without some kind of protective gear, to tell you the truth!
In case you're wondering, in December of 2013, The Trinidad moruga scorpion lost its title of 'world's hottest pepper' to the 'Carolina Reaper' per Guinness World Records.
FYI: There are lots of spots with more info about the Scoville scale, including this site, which has an interactive table: http://www.appliancecity.co.uk/chilli/
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