Cooking With Plastic is Just Wrong

                                  Food Network Image on Storing Meat

    I saw this thing online called "REAL EATS," which is kind of a joke. It is making it out that boiling meat in a plastic bag is okay. I wrote and asked about BPA and other chemicals that could leach/migrate into the food itself. So far, I haven't heard back from them.

    Are we "so" lazy that we can't put a piece of meat in the oven? Even the microwave would be healthier than cooking (boiling) with plastic. Plastic is NOT the answer for everything. The "DailyFresh" people have the right idea. They "send"  you the fresh ingredients and you stir fry them up. Much better.

I Miss My Cat

 

    It's on cold and sunny days like we've had for the past few days that I think of my cat "Sammie" (Samantha, from Samantha Brady of All My Children TV fame, a similar feisty female). Sammie would lie in sun in winter, on our back deck, but also sometimes in our paved driveway, soaking up the rays and the heat while she did what most cats spend a lot of time doing -- sleeping. I suppose that is because they originated in the desert and probably had periods of hibernation. That's "my" guess.

    Sammie had heart trouble (a rapid heart beat that made it almost impossible for her to sleep) and had to be euthanized last November. It was the humane thing to do. I think she'd previously suffered a heart attack. She was fourteen and a half.  Now, when it is sunny, with cold temps and/or a cold wind whipping up, I think it is a Sammie day. 

On Pumpkin Bread -- gluten free

                                                      Pumpkin Bread -- YUM

 

 

     Pumpkins are associated with autumn, harvest and Halloween. Pumpkin "bread," which is actually a dessert, as opposed to regular baked bread, can be very sweet, very delicious. Strange, because pumpkins are really quite healthy.

     Since pumpkins are orange, they have beta carotene, which becomes Vitamin A -- you know, the carrot vitamin. Vitamin A is good for our skin, eyes, mucus membranes, and ALSO, our immune systems. So that makes pumpkin bread at least "semi" healthy.

      But what if you have a gluten sensitivity, like me? I actually found this great box cake/bread recipe in Kroger (but only once, so far). So I bought it again recently online-- "Simple Mills  Pumpkin Muffin & Bread" mix, with almond flour. It also uses coconut sugar, arrowroot, pumpkin (of course) and the organic spices of  cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves. I don't think I could have made something from scratch this good. I have found that so called "1 to 1" gluten free flours may not be up to the task for something like banana bread or pumpkin bread. But this recipe is great.

     I think I found it on amazon.com, but you can also get "Simple Mills" pumpkin muffin & bread mix at vitacost.com and thrive market as well. 

    So don't deprive yourself. Get some.  

TRAVEL AND INDEPENDENCE

 

                         We walked a paved path at Grayson County Recreation Park in Independence

     We took a little trip recently to Claytor Lake, and then wanted to go to Rural Retreat (VA), but the driver (my spouse) didn't "know the way to San Jose" or the Rural Retreat lake and park, so we got lost-- winding up in the small town of Independence.  I understand the town came about in 1850 because two communities were arguing about where to put the county seat, so someone asserted some "independence" in the matter. Our being here, a ways from home during this pandemic, was a bit of a declaration in itself. 

    As we entered the town I noted a faded caboose to the left, part of a small town park near some water. The caboose used to be very important in train travel. It was an office for the conductor and had to do with signalling a brakeman to, well, put on the brakes to stop the darn thing. In the 1980s they found an electronic way to do the latter and the caboose didn't seem needed any longer. I know that my sons have utilized a caboose-- as a place of entertainment, for birthday parties, which seems kind of silly.  And they're housed at parks so families can go and see, well, this was part of a train!

     We couldn't find the part we were looking for, but after a meal at Aunt Bee's -- my spouse says the Aunt Bee's in Hillsville is more like a restaurant than the fast food place we visited, booths marked off and people wearing masks-- we asked directions of a woman and "found" a park to go to!

     The Grayson County Rec Park didn't look too big, and had a nice, mostly level trail a short ways from the pool that had kids yelling and rock music blaring. I guess they were having fun (though maybe it wasn't all that safe with the coronavirus still around). Our trail was pleasant, partly shaded, with various wildflowers along the banks, such as ferns, vervain, goldenrod,  maybe also lobelia?

     We passed a lot of barns, wingstem wildflowers, some political signs, small homes,  and church steeples. My spouse "swears" that this Rural Retreat park could be found at an intersection or crossing where there was a white church.  We probably passed three or four churches, and no intersection. So much for finding "that" park. We got a bit of exercise and got out of the house for three or four hours, so that was an accomplishment, right? 

Getting Out of House During Coronavirus -- Claytor Lake wetlands

     

These are trying times -- and you can go bonkers in you stay in the house too long. So I decided, as a Master naturalist, to monitor  wetlands/vernal pools  near the entrance to Claytor Lake State Park.

     Some call them wetlands, or vernal (spring) pools. Most vernal pools don't stick around, and only last a few months, virus or not. Why? These special wetlands are an important                                                        

part of the food web. Frogs show up and "sing" for their female mates. And salamanders also make an appearance, bringing chemical "pheromones" into play, this glandular substance attracting the girlfriend as he waggles his tail in a mating dance. 

     Female salamanders will then lay fertilized eggs that are stuck deep in the water, attached to a branch. Female frogs create a mass of eggs that linger on the wetland's surface. The critters leave the wetland and go into the woods, where they become food for "bigger" animals, from foxes to bobcats, even birds and snakes.

     We NEED wetlands (or ponds, which is a year round pool with trees and other vegetation in it), to keep the food web going. And the pond I visited did have signs of critters.  I noticed a little gray backed (probably a painted) turtle or two, briefly sunning themselves on a big log before they saw us and scooted into the water and disappeared. Then there was a "schoosh" and splash, briefly followed by what appeared to be a squeak. It sounded like the squeak of a baby toy, which was kind of cute. It was so fast I could only barely make out that the long legs of a frog were involved. 

     And my feet (darn it) got wet! I should have worn my waders boots, perfect for getting closer to my wetland critters. It was sunny and calm, a perfect day to get out of the house, and still be away from people (because of COVID-19), and get close to nature! 

At Wasena Park in spite of Coronavirus

                      Bridge that goes across Roanoke River at Wasena Park in city of Roanoke.


       I took into account the fact that we were driving 40 miles away to Roanoke and that our restaurant gift certificate would only entitle us to a "takeout" meal. So I thought, what the heck, it was supposed to be kind of warm, and on Google maps I eyed a nearby park. I thought, hey, let's try out Wasena Park.
    I understand the name "Wasena" comes from a Native American wfor "beautiful view," and I think you can say that for the part of the Roanoke River flowing by it. After picking up restaurant meals at Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen at the Valley View Mall, we followed directions and roads I'd seen on Google Maps. It was down Orange Avenue, which, oddly, had a lot of white blossom cherry trees "snowing" their petals down on the road, this being the first full day of spring. Then I believe we quickly hit Franklin and then Elm Avenue. In no time at all we were crossing the bridge that went over the river.
    But we somehow missed Winchester (Ave/St) and hit Main Street (which eventually takes you to Rt. 419/Electric Rd) and I knew we'd gone too far because the river was to our left. So we stopped by a store and asked a young woman where to go. We had missed the right turn just off the bridge, so we took that, THEN we hit Winchester and the entrance to this roomy park, with its modern playground and old rail road tracks (but no train in sight -- the official railroad was across then above Roanoke River).
     And though we were in the midst of an epidemic, there must have been a dozen or so people taking in the almost 70 degree weather, even as the clouds darkened and rain threatened. One woman, almost skeletally thin, with a loose blue polyester sweater hanging off of her, commented it was a good idea, taking our meals --- the spouse dug into a smokehouse burger and I ate my tasty blackened salmon with rice and broccoli --- outside on a picnic table the newspaper said had been sanitized earlier in the week. (Well, the restaurants won't "let you" eat inside so this is our option, and we weren't close to anyone, unless they happened to jog by, which I hoped was okay.)
     After our meal we ventured toward the river and the rust brown bridge that looked like a former train trestle. With the coronavirus, walking is one of the few things you can do for entertainment. So we spied in some spots churning, fast flowing water and headed toward some of the so-called Greenway. But the spouse wasn't wearing his walking shoes, so he went back, but not before we came upon a little meadow of marsh marigolds (THAT was my observation) close to the edge of the water.
     As he walked back I noted other spring beauties, like Shepherd's purse, Pennsylvania creases (some here and on the other side, the park side), a few lone, delicate violets (which are actually edible), a few dandelions coming up early. We had a warmer than normal winter so these wildflowers were blooming rather early.
     There was also a short walkway off the Greenway with odd sculptures in bronze, wood. It was very nice to be outside, early spring an optimistic showing of nature, though the nature of the virus is really rather ominous, worrisome. 
     We are back home and guess we will stay here (except taking my sister to the grocery store and maybe a trip to the college library, which has only a few people in it at this point).

Tea Bags, Kidney Stones, and Health

     When the spouse found out that he had a kidney stone I learned a thing or two about that particular health issue. It's important to drink a lot of fluids to clean out your system. I had a friend who was told by her doctor to give her ailing husband lemonade to help his kidneys, which is apparently better than cranberry juice.
    But when you "do" drink a lot of fluids, the more natural the better. Soda, whether with sugar or "fake" sugar, has a lot of chemicals in it. That's a lot of extra work for your liver and kidneys; water or tea is better. But tea isn't perfect either. Some tea bags actually have plastic fibers (!) in them. That sucks. But Lipton has assured the writer of  one blog,"Https://Happilyhomegrown.com," that its bags are compostable and therefore, do NOT have plastic. That's a relief to know!

Did you know -- Lectins and tomato frogs (both can be unhealthy)

                                                       

Tomato Frog, photo courtesy of cites.org

    In 2006 in Japan, over 1,000 people got sick after trying a new food fad (no, this isn't about the tomato frog-- that comes later). This "fad" instructed them to toast white kidney beans, then grind them up in a coffee mill. THEN, put them on their rice, to help them lose weight.

    Many experienced vomiting and diarrhea, with 122 going to the hospital. Their problem? Lectin poisoning.

    What on earth are lectins? Lectins are special proteins in many legumes, fruits, and beans. They are actually used as a defense mechanism against insects trying to eat them. They are NOT digested easily. (Have you ever been advised to not eat a kidney bean raw?) Over time lectins can damage the intestinal lining, possibly causing "leaky gut" and immune disease.

    But if they(beans) are cooked thoroughly the lectins shouldn't be a problem. Raw kidney beans  have 70,000 lectin units, but if soaked overnight and boiled fifteen minutes, it goes down to 200-400 lectin units. And they have interesting health benefits. They can actually modulate inflammation. According to reporter Cara Rosenbloom, these proteins stick together, are antimicrobial, and have anti-cancer potential. Dr. Michael Gregor cites research where lectins limited tumor growth. They could even "extinguish" colon cancer cells and help them differentiate back into normal cells. (This research has only been done with animals and in petri dishes, but researchers are encouraged by this.)

    Lectins can be found in potatoes, peanuts, seeds, green peppers, and fruit. But well cooked,  they shouldn't be a problem. Avoid if you have digestive issues with these foods.

    And speaking of tomatoes (was I?),  there's a unique, almost comical looking frog found only in Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa. From the genus Dyscophus, the tomato frog is a red-orange (even redder in females) frog that lives in a rain forest. Its body is wide and squat, a fat, round shape that almost looks like a tomato slice on top, a dark brown body stripe running from behind the eye to the rear leg on each side. 

    They will even "inflate" their round body and extend their legs out to appear larger when threatened, their reddish color no doubt a hint to predators that, hey, we're toxic, stay away. They actually give off a white substance, which irritates people's hands if they try to touch one. (I don't know if I could ever find this freaky frog in the forest -- its' only three inches long, five inches for the female.) And when they mate, a female can lay up to 15,000 eggs!

    Over a decade ago, here in Virginia, it rained for the whole month of July. and I didn't get to try out the wading pool my son had bought me. In August I noticed these tiny lines moving in the pool -- they were tadpoles! I'd read online they could eat boiled (then frozen and thawed out) lettuce and grass clippings, and any algae found in their watery home.

    Some of them did get big enough to hop out, but only a few. After four months I put them in a pail of  pool water (they were probably green frogs) and took them to the nearest lake. Many of them still had a tail or only two legs. I spilled them into the lake, hoping they wouldn't be eaten by a fish before they grew up.

    It seems I have little control over frogs, but I will watch my "lectin" intake in the future (and help prevent gas).

Highlands Fest -- one part of historic Abingdon

                                            The Barter Theatre, part of historic Abingdon, VA.


        Abingdon, VA. Historic Abingdon I find to already be an interesting place to visit. When I lived close by I got my exercise by going "up and down" the steep veterans' park in town, and loving the hot fudge cake at nearby Shoney's. But this venerable town, serving an important function during the Civil War, brings citizens near and far together for its annual Highlands Fest.
     The Highlands Festival brings artists, writers, and the curious to the town managing the state theater of Virginia, The Barter Theatre. My spouse Frank and I stopped there on the second day of our weekend visit. I couldn't believe my college friend Kenny was behind the counter at the gift shop. He commented how he liked being in management at this unique theater (where people would bring cabbages and other produce to feed struggling actors during the Great Depression), and that we could volunteer as ushers, even if we lived far away.
     The Barter sits on Main Street, where the regional Shriner's group drove some 1920s open cars during the parade that is part of the festival. This we watched from the arts and crafts fairgrounds that are to the left of the historic Martha Washington Inn and Spa. The inn has been a women's college and hospital, and boasts ghosts AND wonderful fine dining (and dessert carts!). But I needed to see the great variety of art, which included old Christmas post cards showing cherubic children I was very tempted to buy. And the food tent with a nutella and banana based wrap was original (but a little too mushy).
     There was a play and '60s beach band near the town's farmers' market area, but we chose to relax at the family owned Alpine Motel, very reasonably priced. That afternoon I listened to various writers talk about method (selling and writing) at the Higher (kind of a theme in this mountainous town that is part of Appalachia) Education Center, even getting a few tips from Adriana Trigiani. Trigiani has made herself known with her book made into a movie, Big Stone Gap, and discussed her love of directing. She also suggested you could "dream up" a story. Well, it's not THAT simple. At another writers' conference I went to an author said if you wrote down a question for your story next to your bed and thought of it as you went to sleep, you'd wake up the next day with your answer. I don't know if that's true, but, hey, why not give it a try.
    The various memories I have of Abingdon will have me coming back again. It's where history and art come alive.

Did you know -- Zucchini is a foreigner (but good)?

  

Zucchini in the garden

     They may not be space invaders, but they "do" come from a foreign country. I'm not talking about starlings, snakehead fish, or British soldiers (during the 1700s). I'm talking about my favorite summer vegetable, that dark green summer squash, the humble, versatile zucchini.
     It has a rather foreign sounding name, said to come from the Italian word for squash (zucca). But Italians brought it over to America in the 1920s and it started getting popular, even though it was already being grown in places like Mexico and South America. I had always found it pretty easy to plant and grow, and sometimes, it comes in a deluge! In fact, one summer I had so much I basically substituted celery for it, and called my recipe "Zucchini Chow Mein." Of course, that presupposes I wasn't using much chicken, but it was in there, along with the bean sprouts, onions, soy sauce, a dash of sugar and some rice on the side. The Bristol Herald Courier (VA.) daily liked it and gave me a  white (with red border) "potluck" apron for my efforts.
     I've since learned that this low cal phenom is loaded with vitamins. It has a whole "set" of vitamins, such as vitamins A, C, K,  B6, as well as potassium and magnesium. And it has such a mild taste that is great in soups, salads, chow mein(!), or in the kind of sweet bread recipe used for bananas. I so look forward to this favorite fruit (it has a lot of seeds in it, as a fruit does). But last summer it didn't do as well, as it needs certain insects (bees) to pollinate it. People can help pollinate the female flower (the male flower is much smaller) using a Q tip, if needed. I may try that. But I did put marigolds nearby and wonder if they didn't distract or repel the bees last year.

Did You Know -- A few things to know about Snow

                                     Snowflakes come in an abundant array of shapes and sizes

         This winter season it seems we had "more" snow in March and April than actual winter! (Climate change, perhaps?) And our next to last snow, right around the beginning of spring, was 13 full inches! But the next day it was sunny and warmer, most of it melting away in one day. So why wasn't the area flooded?

     It's interesting (perhaps Mother Nature's way of being merciful) that 10 inches of snow equals only one inch of water when it melts. When all that snow melted it didn't cause a horrendous flood. I guess the snowflakes themselves, since they are all shaped differently, had a lot of spaces in between, piling up in a lopsided fashion.

     According to a Mental Floss article, a snow with the largest snowflakes was reported in 1887 at Fort Keogh, Montana. The people there saw the snow coming down and thought the flakes were bigger than "milk pans," which I'm guessing were pretty wide. Deep, compressed snow can appear to have a color -- why else would those icebergs in Alaska look blue?

     They say igloos can actually be quite warm. The compacted snow traps air and keeps colder air out, so it's a great insulator. Even so, I don't see myself any time soon residing in a snow house, though somewhere up in Scandinavia there is a hotel that is all ice, I believe. I heard the temperature was NOT warm!

Snowdogs in the future?

    

Virginia in the winter.

    We received "some" healthy fresh air when we went outside the other day to build a snowman. I tried something a tiny bit different -- I gave the snowman a smile shaped from yellow squash. It surprises me that there even "is" squash this time of year. This time of year this vegetable is probably trucked in from Mexico and been sprayed with a half dozen noxious chemicals, no doubt.

    This winter all the big snows have gone to the south or north of us. So Mr. Snowman was a long time in coming. We're not kids anymore but so what? It's fun to get out and do something in the snow. Right as we were finishing our messter-piece, my spouse suggested we should have done something more original, you know, like a snowdog or even a snowcat. But what would you use for whiskers, straws? Blades of grass? Long pieces of material plastered to the side of the head to represent dog ears?

    We haven't done this yet. And as our gloves easily got soaked in this wet yet clumpy snow, we realized there wasn't time to fix our snow person into something else. Maybe next time.

Was the groundhog wrong -- warm February and weather concerns

    

                                     Chickadees seem to hang around in the winter.





     Is this climate change or is this just "the usual" for February? Living in the southeast a number of years, there seems to always be a bit of a thaw the end of January or mid February. But now it's staying warmer for longer periods -- yet now too long, as my daffodils have yet to come up.
    I know we need the moisture, but all this rain has turned part of our unpaved parking lot into mud! Mud remains me of the name of that doctor who infamously tended to  John Wilkes Booth's leg during his escape from D. C. after shooting President Lincoln. That occurred in April, one of my favorite months of years in the weather department. Wilkes Booth ran north (well, not literally) for a while and then headed south, about 25 miles from D. C., perhaps in rainy weather himself. For a short time he and an associate stayed at the Garrett farm, where they had heard little of his serious act. But he was tracked down to the Garrett's tobacco barn, almost going out surrounded by a blaze of fire, after being shot by Sergeant Boston Corbett in a burning barn. Booth was dragged out the of barn and died a little later of a neck wound. Whether the day was warm or cold, it didn't turn out well for Booth.
     Here is hoping February warms a bit (without all the rain), leading us into March and the optimistic hope of green plants growing and spring!

DID YOU KNOW -- 16 FROGS A NEAT OUTDOOR WALK

                                       Frog glued to a rock at Margaret Beeks Elementary

    If you were to visit New York City's 843 acre Central Park, you'd find yourself being surprised every so often by the statues you'd see along your walk. Like the one of Christopher Columbus, and a brown looking, well, brown bear. There's also a bronze of Alice in Wonderland, the literary character with a Cheshire cat and Mad Hatter surrounding her, and heroic sled dog Balto in the distance. Statues make any walk more interesting. Some even have a purpose.
    The bronze frogs in and around downtown Blacksburg (VA), the Virginia Tech college town, do indeed have a purpose, showing off the town watershed, among other things. On a cold day in mid January I set out with some hearty hikers (good alliteration there) to discover where exactly the 16 different frogs were.
    At twenty degrees, it was NOT the ideal day for a hike around town. But the sun was out and we bundled up in layers (like two layers of socks in my fur lined boots), so with a coat, insulated gloves, a hat and scarf covering part of my face, I set off with several others. 
    Just what are the 16 frogs?  They were four inches of bronzed statues, some attached to a lily pad, some not, set in different places throughout Blacksburg to point out the waterways that once provided life giving drinking water to town residents. (The New River has since taken over that task.)
    How much value do we place in our waterways, streams and creeks that feed into rivers that feed into big lakes that may feed into really major waterways, like the ocean? These creeks are living worlds for fish and mayflies and salamanders. The frogs in the area need them as well. 
    We walked all over downtown to different spots. I liked the one by a fountain at the renovated Black House on Draper Road.  One of the walkers said I was nuts to sit on the cement area next to the frog and lily pad attached (cemented?) to it. But hey, I had on my good winter coat, jeans, and three layers under that! When our leader Pauletta took a pic of the group, I was the one pointing to this dark gray colored frog.
    A few frogs were noticeably glued in place. I was told a few had already been "stolen" -- really, too cheap to go to your own nearby garden supply store for decorations? Or perhaps they were big animal lovers. Not long after this we took a break and warmed up at the Squires Student Center. But there were parks, bridges, and other places still to explore.

FALL HAS FALLEN AWAY

     It would appear that finally, fall has fallen away. The true colors of the leaves have given way to a dreary landscape of standing tall grayish sticks on dull brown land, trying to go to sleep. If it snows in the near future, the forest will undeniably be at rest, dormant,  with little movement.
     What is surprising, though, is that even at this late stage of near winter, some salamanders move about-- well, it's really more during moments of winter with a bit of thaw and rain. But in late fall into winter you can still see squirrels jumping about, and if you leave out enough seeds and it snows the red hued, male cardinal will make his presence known. So much most of the forest will be preparing to go off for a winter's nap, but not everything will. 

DID YOU KNOW -- CHESTNUTS MAKING A COMEBACK

                                                                                   
                                                                           

           A chestnut tree developing fruit (chestnut nut pods).

         Did you know that chestnuts need to make a comeback?

        There was that ol' Nat King Cole song with the phrase "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" that was popular decades ago. As a young adult I actually "did" roast some (more like "toast") some chestnut tree nuts in a broiler. They were good, and Hot! (But roasting does give them extra flavor.)

        But can you even do that now? Maybe, in the future. In Virginia the "Chestnut Foundation" is trying to bring them back. The East coast was once the home of thousands and thousands of chestnut trees, some as big around as the grand giant sequoias (of the redwood family) in California forests.

        The beginning of the 20th century, a foreign fungus was discovered, some saying it was brought in to the Bronx Zoo in New York City. This "blight" on the American chestnut killed the cambium, the growing layer of the tree inside the bark. The blight, at one time, killed over billion trees! This changed the Eastern forests. No more roasting chestnuts or stuffing them in turkey for Thanksgiving.

        But in recent years tree experts had created a hybrid, an American-Chinese blend of chestnut to withstand the terrible fungus. Today, with 110 middle school students, a rep from the Chestnut Foundation said we were planning (I'm told) fully American chestnut saplings, to hopefully one day become the big, fat trees they were supposed to be from the past. 

        The students I helped supervise at Heritage Park (Blacksburg, VA) seemed more knowledgeable about trees than I was at that age. They told me about having wild blackberry  bushes on their property, and their uncle telling them how to dig and plant a tree. Certainly planting a tree, getting kids outside and around nature, away from all their durn electronic gadgets, was worth the effort.

        After planting the  trees and having a sit down lunch they had brought themselves, we then also did something they don't usually do at school -- we walked through the park. How many students, outside, identifying chestnuts and learning about trees, would benefit from being in the "outdoor classroom" that is a park full of trees, chestnut or otherwise?  In some schools they even give up outside activity for art. Trees are important and so is being outside and exercising. And learning about chestnuts outside seemed like the perfect thing to do.

SOLAR ECLIPSE MADNESS

                                                    

                                     One of many brands of eclipse glasses.

    I’d written about this earlier (accidentally pressed delete so am starting all over in Word),

but it is worth noting that certain natural phenomena don’t come around all that often. For a few hours, on August 21, the country decided, hey, let’s have fun for a few hours. Let’s forget about political disagreements, No. Korean craziness, rising oceans, terrorism, and the price of gas. Let’s appreciate a natural experience – a solar eclipse!

    In case you didn’t know, a solar eclipse only occurs once every several years (or more) in the U. S. Since, according to a Radford University planetarium program, the moon has about a five degree tilt or difference in front of the earth it goes around, the moon won’t line up in front of the sun every month. So lining up the moon “exactly” in front of the sun is a big deal!

    People came in “droves” to Radford University (VA.) for free eclipse glasses. A planetarium assistant told me you needed these glasses because looking at even a partially covered sun would tempt you to look at the sun too long. You could permanently damage your eyes’ retinas. They say Sir Isaac Newton hurt his eyes looking at a solar eclipse. So I was determined to look through what looked like those 3-D movie glasses. Though these were much stronger, to keep ultraviolet rays out.

    What a crowd! I got there 15 minutes before the assigned time mentioned online and there were already 60 people in line. Then came the bad news – they’d only hand out the glasses to those going to a planetarium show. You couldn’t just take the glasses and run. With so many people quickly lining up behind me, I was guessing a lot would leave disappointed, though they did have several shows that day.

    In the planetarium itself the hostess spoke with R.U. students who were setting up equipment in Nashville where there’d be a 100 percent solar eclipse. For about two whole minutes. I managed to get a “ticket” for the 11 0’clock showing and went to the college library for a while, then came back (around 10:35 so I wouldn’t lose a place in line).

    In planetarium show they can quickly move things across the inside sky. During the show we were given a view of the earth from the moon, tiny planets that circled the sun during the eclipse, and how the eclipse would pass across the United States. During a solar eclipse it isn’t a dark spot, but more a dark gray that spreads out as it moves across the country. Interesting.

     I knew people who drove several hours away to get to Nashville or some part of Tennessee for the full solar eclipse. Just for those two minutes! During the two minutes of total coverage, it is almost like night. Here in Virginia, at 93 percent coverage, there was a tiny crescent of light at the top of the black circle of the eclipse. And yet, it didn’t seem to affect the light outside. Well, maybe a little bit. It certainly wasn’t anything like nighttime.

     This moment in time reminds  me of what environmentalist Rachel Carson said, that we need to have a “sense of wonder” about nature. As a Master naturalist member, I do.