Total Eclipse in Leon Valley

  Unfortunately, it was very overcast first thing in the morning, but that's common enough at this time of year in Leon Valley. The clouds and gloom usually burn off by mid-morning. I noticed a vine in bloom out in my back yard, and debated about setting up the telescope for projection of the eclipse. Had it been bright, clear and sunny, I thought maybe I'd take the telescope to the library porch or the park and share the view. But the sun was playing hide-and-seek at best.

Vine flowers at 12:19pm

  Later in the morning it seemed even   
                                     more overcast, so I was resigning myself
to noting the environment and maybe catching views of the sun if possible, but setting up the 'scope was pointless.
Couldn't see the sun at all with the solar eclipse glasses on, even when it did peep out--so many clouds filtering the view.  So I decided to take photos every 10-20 mins. of the pumpkin (or whatever it is) flowers. While the flowers had been wide open at the crack of dawn, they'd wrapped themselves up after dawn so I wondered if light had something to do with that.

 Vine flowers at 12:43pm

Vine flowers at 1:03pm

Vine flowers at 1:23pm

     When totality time approached, my sis and I went outside--still couldn't see a thing with the glasses on, but every now
and then the eclipsed sun would pop out for a second or two (still covered with at least some clouds). I tried to take pictures with my phone since there didn't appear to be any great danger with all the cloud cover. The vine flowers stayed firmly furled, but I took shots to see how the light changed. 

Sky at 1:29pm

Sky at 1:30pm

                                                                                                                 Vine flowers at 1:31pm

      It got darker, like a storm does. A 
mockingbird began singing loudly,
several large raptors flew over, and a
flock of night swifts (which regularly
come out at dusk) danced overhead.
The automatic lights in the area snapped on. I didn't really notice a temperature change since it was pretty humid.

                                            Vine flowers at 1:32pm

Kept trying to look up with the glasses on but finally gave up; could catch quick glimpses of the eclipse without them but not see a thing through them. Then my sis said "Look, look!" and we saw the totality. Just for a microblink of an instant--a bullet-hole through the center of the sun. Just as quickly it vanished beneath the moving clouds and didn't appear again until several minutes had passed. I didn't get to see any of the stages I wanted so much to see, Bailey's beads, the diamond ring, the details of the corona--did see the streams on TV (Channel 12, CNN and National Geographic)...though not quite the same as seeing with one's own eyes. Only the curve of the moon's shadow...then the clouds got thicker and the sun stopped peeping out for a long time, so we finally went back in the house. Automatic lights in the neighborhood went back off, returning to an ordinary overcast day.

Sky at 1:34pm

Automatic lights at 1:34pm 

    
Vine flowers at 1:34pm           

Vine flowers at 1:36pm

But at least I did get to see, no matter for how short a time, the total eclipse. Totally cool!!

Automatic lights at 1:36pm

                                                            
                                                                Vine flowers at 1:39pm

 ANNULAR "RING OF FIRE" ECLIPSE

        Saturday, October 14--roughly from 10:30ish through 1:30ish, there will be an "annular" solar eclipse--where the moon appears to be in front of the sun but doesn't quite cover it, so there is a bright ring around the dark disk of the moon for a few minutes. Here in Leon Valley we get to see it about as full-on as it gets, and then in six months, a total solar eclipse (April 8) will occur!  

        The area within the red lines on the map shows the course of the eclipse and the area of totality--outside the lines there is still an eclipse, but it would be partial.

 

        The maximum "ring of fire" effect will be about 11:54am here, lasting a little over four minutes. You do not want to look at it directly without some sort of solar lens protection, though, as it might be the last thing you look at! You can project the light of the sun through a pinhole and watch the projected sun disk change shape, or you can watch the event online, or you can look at it with a good pair of solar eclipse sunglasses. Just don't look directly at it with unaided eyes or it may french-fry your retinas.

Here is a list of interesting websites to check out to find out about the eclipse(s):

Information tables about when & where the eclipses will be:
https://www.scigames.org/eclipse/#total-table

Interactive map--see how the eclipse will appear in Leon Valley or another city by playing around with the sliders:  https://eclipse2024.org/eclipse_cities/statemap.html

More information about Leon Valley and the annular eclipse:
https://eclipse2024.org/2023eclipse/eclipse-cities/city/40208.html

Leon Valley and the April total eclipse:
https://eclipse2024.org/eclipse-cities/city/39200.html?searchqry=Leon+Valley+Texas%2C+USA

and some nice videos about the topic:

"Ring of Fire" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLKgT2rR_ZU

"Total Eclipse Of The Sun"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=181RpmRtFYo&list=PLAJ3J5OEZMuJsxT8o7IbOJfi0atidkXd8&index=3

"All About the April 8 2024 Total Solar Eclipse" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_AT01RUzr4

We've been celebrating the eclipse at the library with a short series of programs and activities.  Check out our calendar if you're interested! 

In the meantime, watch for shadows! 🌚

 

 

 

 

 

Share Your Home Projects!

So what have you been up to over the 2022 summer, where temperatures and prices have been soaring?
Here's a little project I suddenly found myself doing... my relatively new office chair's lovely vinyl seemed to be sliding off in unpleasant ways. I had a bag of library card frames (plastic frames library cards used to come in, we'd pop out the cards and then there was a little frame left over) that I started crocheting odd bits of yarn around, and after getting a good look at my chair, decided they were just the right size and consistency to make a wonderful chair cover.

                                (before)

                                             So I did.

                                    (after)

                  Flashy, huh?  But fit just perfectly!

 

The Practical Practice of Plarn

What's plarn?  "Plarn" is a jammed-together term meaning "plastic yarn" whereby you make "yarn" from cutting up plastic bags--shopping bags, bread sacks, newspaper wraps, some balloons, packaging, whatever has the right consistency to allow one to use the plastic as a yarn or thread.

Why would I want to make plarn?  For one thing, it's pretty much a free resource.  Plastic bags are all over the place.  Even if you don't happen to have any, someone nearby is likely to be overflowing with the things.  And of course it is a very "green" ecological thing to do, to reuse plastic.  It also has its advantages merely by being plastic; waterproof, light, cheap...

Plastic bags

What do I do with plarn after I make a bunch of it?  Here is where the creativity comes to play.  Basically whatever you can do with yarn, you can do with the right kind of plarn.  Crochet, knit, weave, macramé, etc.  Google "plarn" and you'll find a whole world of ideas.

So how do I start?  First, naturally, you gather up (clean) plastic sacks (etc.) and cut them into strips.  Some people slip the strips together (here is someone's example) so the strips will become one continuous strand. 

AllFreeCrochet's instructions on making plarn strips

I personally take the item and cut it into one immensely long strip, round and round, as if peeling an apple continuously.  Longer strips are easier to deal with than short ones, but if you are crocheting, you probably don't need to slip or knot the strips together.  The size (width) of the strips depend on what your source is, what you are crocheting/knitting/etc. with or what you are ultimately doing.  Generally somewhere between 1/4" and an inch is a good size, you just want to make sure it is fairly flexible and not too thin (breakable) or thick (hard to work with).  Roll as you go, or you'll be the meatball in an enormous wad of plastic spaghetti.

Balls of wrapped plarn

Anyway, there are all sorts of fantastical things you can make, especially if you sort your colors as you go (like above). 

Here are a few things I've put together:

Plarn dinosaur, granny square and teddy bear

 A bit of standard crochet (granny square), a dinosaur (I always think it's extra funny to make a dinosaur out of a petroleum product) and a fluffy teddy bear (I wanted to see if I could fill the holes with a bit of rug-hooking).

Plarn granny square

Here's the granny square up close.  You can use up a lot of different colors with these things.

If you keep going, you can have a blanket before you know it.  I made one to use as a mattress waterproofer for a while.  (now it's doing time as a pet house accessory)  Does take some time to get something that large made, but hey, it's free and no big deal to toss when necessary.  They can also be (hand) washed up to a point, being plastic (but you don't want to toss them into a washer with piping hot water...!).

Big plarn blanket

There is at least one group who meets to make plarn and crochet bed pads (easy to roll up and carry, making a warmer insulation layer between a person and the ground) for homeless folks.  It can be a very helpful substance...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7KpQZJWPfE

Plarn Bedrolls

 And here's my silly stegosaurus.  Little toys are fun to make.

Plarn dinosaur

              Plarn dino looking the other way

Plarn on plaid, stegosaurus

Plarn on plaid stegosaurus sitting the other direction

The teddy bear started out a different way, but I got curious about how plarn might work as a rug-type material.  So after I crocheted the bear shape, I took little scraps of plarn (3-4" each) and hooked them all over the beastie, then gave him a haircut to make it look neat and fluffy.

Plarn teddy bear (even the eyes and nose)

Plarn bear (yellow collar and mylar back)

 I used not only regular shopping bags, but lots of newspaper sacks and some dead-deflated mylar balloons (metallic-sparkly!).

 Anyway, if you find yourself fascinated, maybe we can do something with it at the library...and if not, it's still a useful tool to stick in one's idea-box.

Some plastics won't work too well for this...many are very biodegradable so don't last long while others are too thick to bend well.  On the other hand many will last for ages and are washable, so you just need to experiment.  Which is half the fun... Standard shopping bags, bread bags and newspaper bags are definitely suited for this sort of activity!

Fluffy plarn teddy

Useful Origami: FANCY LITTLE ENVELOPE

 

And the little envelope, useful for small gifts, splashes of color in decor, table places, parties...this one is nice because it doesn't require glue to keep it shut, can be used for keeping many a small thingie in line, and is easy once you make a couple.  It opens like a flower (or cardboard box, depending on how you like to view things) and is kinda impressive in its own way.

So here are my written instructions (good luck):

And now if you prefer, you can watch me muddle through making one of these small wrappers.

Lovely little letter luggage.

Useful Origami: FUN BOAT

 

One of my favorite things to fold up quick...it is very easy but has a trick ending, so to speak.  Still, it comes in quite handy.  I like to return change, keep pens or glasses in such boats.  And they do float.  Well, maybe not if you make it out of mesh or absorbent towels, but for the most part...

Here's a video on folding a utilitarian paper boat:

And included for the price, the written instructions:

Sail Away!!

 

Useful Origami: HANDY CUP

Now a VERY simple trick...a cup!  How often have you needed a small cup for a quick sip or to pop something into and the best you could come up with was your hands (for the sip) or a crumpled napkin (for a small container)?  A couple of brown paper towels in a pinch, or a page of notebook paper (which actually works pretty well, since it has a thin clay coating that keeps the water in for a while) will do nicely when you're out and about.  Or perhaps, a bit of pretty wrapping or construction paper would make some bright party favors, etc.
                             Here's how:

And again, for those who prefer the video form of learning, here's the 3D version of the instructions:

 

The Cup.