Some boys never grow up! 
Thank God I’m married to one.
Thank God my friend Pamela is too,
for these two boys provided more of a show last Sunday than did the Annular Solar Eclipse.
Well, almost.
Lil’ Michael Lil’ Ron
It started at 5:30 p.m. when Ron got out of his car lugging a long, rectangular box made of the gridded cardboard that a seamstress uses to mark and cut patterns.
“What is that?” I asked. 
“It’s my viewing box,” he said with glee, rushing to find an unobstructed view of the sun.
“Looks to me like Pamela’s former pattern cutting board,” I pointed out with a wink at Pamela.
About that time, Mike came around the corner, beaming. He, too, carried a cardboard box, only this one had a long tube taped to it.
“What is that?” I stupidly asked again.
“It’s my viewing box,” he said with glee, rushing to find an unobstructed view of the sun.
Pamela and I looked at each other and grinned.
It was about then that Gary, our good friend from Sacramento, joined us. He had driven to Redding to watch the moon eclipsing the sun, as it could only be seen “spot on” within a 50-mile wide swath, and our place was right in the middle.
Gary is no stranger to playing hard. He once enticed us to build an igloo while snowshoeing to Chaos Crags in Mt. Lassen National Park. 
So, when he saw Mike and Ron comparing who had the bigger box, :-), he joined right in.
After inspecting, admiring, comparing, boasting, discussing and reveling, the boys declared both view boxes to be red-hot.
That’s when Gary, who is at the techo-savvy-comes-easily stage, pulled out his viewing tool:
Sun shades.
Touche!
For the next hour, the five of us watched the moon dance with the sun,
Celestial bodies waltzing across the sky.
After the heavenly show was over, we waltzed to the dining room singing the words, “I fell into a burning ring of fire….” (These were the only words we remembered!)
But we did remember to play, however, toasting the sun, the moon, each other–and you. For I love having you drop in for a visit and joining us in a sip of the The Sweet Life!
Here’s to You! La Dolce Vita
Is there a sip of The Sweet Life that you would like to share? If so, and you’re not too shy, click on the “comment” section and have fun. (Comments are encouraged, not graded!)
fun fun fun I was wishing I had been there!
Next time! You like bike riding? 🙂
fun fun I wished I had been there!!
You are always welcome! It turned out to be impromptu–sometimes the best kind!
I love you your amazing pictures of the eclipse! What a fund and delightful evening!
Hugs,
Deb
Thanks, Deb. The sun and moon danced for your birthday! Hope it was a happy one!
Gotta love it. Magical. The pictures of the eclipse are amazing!
The photo of the sun dancing across the sky was captured while Mike was playing with the camera. Seems like playing is what he does best!
hey, loved the photos. We almost forgot. When I looked out the regular sun was about a third of the brightness. We had company so we all went to the shed for… welding masks. They were filthy so cleaned the front and held them at arms length so we could look without getting too close to the spiders.
thanks for your pictures
I always love the way you see things–as in not getting too close to the spiders. 🙂 It was nice riding with you that day. BTW, I was not too sore afterwards. You can tell by my photo that I still had cowgirl hat hair!
Glad you remembered the eclipse!
That was a fun day, Gayle. Thanks!
And keep those viewing instruments handy, because this Tuesday, at 3:07 pm, you’ll be able to see the start of the transit of Venus, across the face of the sun. It takes several hours to transit the sun (the sun will set for us, before it’s over). It’s a rare event, that won’t reoccur for 117 years!
Also, there’s a partial lunar eclipse, early on Monday morning, as the full moon sets. About 40% of it will be in the Earth’s shadow.
So…my advice to you is…Keep Looking Up!
G
Gary,
You provided the fun! We’ll definitely view the transit of Venus. Thanks for sharing with me and with my readers!
” And God created the heavens and the earth!” and why? So, boys, men,girls and women could play!!!! and that is what the sweet life is all about… great pictures Gayle and Mike and friends!
Count me in! I’ll be there next to you. 🙂