I'm not sure of the worldwide coverage for Monday's(yesterday) solar eclipse, but here in eastern Canada and central Canada as well, it is been a BIG DEAL.......A REALLY BIG DEAL.
The path of the eclipse through eastern Canada had it at one hundred percent coverage over a large portion of New Brunswick. In our area of Nova Scotia, it was projected to be about 95 percent.
So, with 100 percent coverage along with blue skies and no clouds anticipated, we headed 3 hours north-west to Fredericton, New Brunswick to experience the eclipse.
With Fredericton smack in the middle of perfect coverage, they had a three-day "EclipseFest" festival in the downtown "Garrison District" with a variety of things happening and culminating with the eclipse on Monday.
A large area of the Garrison was blocked off. There was music, food vendors, merchandise to buy, and science things to try out. And there were 1000s of people present.
I happened to read a few days before, where someone suggested not spending the "eclipse" with your face buried in your phone taking pictures. This is/was "a once in our lifetime" event. Simply be there and enjoy it.
Along with the music(he was exceptionally good), there was someone who I assume was from "Science East" a science centre/attraction for eastern Canada, who provided info along the way and guided folks through the process.
Without going into a ton of detail, people cheered and clapped at "first contact." Cheered and clapped as the moon crept closer to "full totality or second contact." And everyone went nuts when "full totality" occurred at 4:33pm.
And then darkness descended and it went eerily quiet. The streetlights came on; you could see stars and Venus(the only planet I could see) without using the protective glasses ....you could look at the total eclipse with your naked eyes. Breathtaking.
And at 4:36pm when the first blast of the sun peaked from behind the moon - the crowd erupted into cheering and screaming like I'd never heard. And then it was daytime again.....although a weird shade of light.
It was the greatest event I've ever witnessed in my life. I can say that without a doubt.
I said to Lynn on the way back to our car. That was an exceedingly spiritual event. It was for me.
This is the one and only pic I took. At maximum coverage 4:34pm.
--as always with love--
--- get outdoors; find inspiration; discover yourself ---
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