Eclipse or Bust

Annular eclipse 2023 on Tenmile Lake in Lakeside, Oregon

The moment we thought we might have seen a hint of the eclipse

I set my alarm for 7am the night before. If you know me, you know that I NEVER set the alarm. It has to be a pretty important event to need an alarm set. I fussed and tossed and didn’t sleep a wink the night before the eclipse. I woke up a dozen times wondering if it was morning yet and if I needed to get up to get ready.

You see, the cabin faces almost due-west and since we are surrounded by forest, we cannot see out to the east (where the eclipse would show itself). We knew we would have to get bundled up for the chilly morning, make a hot tea, and head down to the boat to get out on the water and look east.

Looking back through the photos, I can see that the light in the sky was definitely changing!

After several unwarranted attempts, I finally got up around 6:30am. I gave up on sleep and sat up in bed with the kitty on my lap – our morning ritual. The sweetie got up soon after and said that he barely slept a wink either. He said he was getting in the boat at 8am and to be ready. I finished my kitty cuddles with Rocky and headed downstairs to put on the hot water kettle, brush my teeth, and head back upstairs to get bundled up. Decked out in long underwear, sweat pants, a hoodie, my jacket, arm warmies, wool socks, and my coziest beanie, I headed downstairs to make my tea.

I made cinnamon apple spice tea because it felt appropriate for the cool, fall morning. I put on my red wellies and my jacket and I was ready to go. I grabbed a couple of towels, knowing that the fog would have made everything wet in the boat – including the seats – and headed down to the dock to dry everything off. The sweetie followed closely behind and got the boat started to warm it up.

The Autumn colors were making an appearance...

We pulled out of the boat dock and cove and into the body of the lake. The fog was pretty heavy when we got up but it had mostly burned off by the time the eclipse was supposed to happen. The sky was still filled with clouds, however, and we couldn’t see anything. We eventually moved over to a wider open spot on the lake and while we did miss the ring of fire, we did experience the whole world getting a bit darker and then much brighter afterward.

So the entire eclipse was a bust but the morning was not. It was absolutely stunning on the lake, early in the morning with the fog kissing the treetops and the steam blowing across the top of the water ever-so-softly. There wasn’t a sound other than the soft chatting of the geese in the water and the ripple of the water as it gently lapped against the boat. Even without the eclipse, it’s a morning that I won’t forget any time soon.

Did you get to see the eclipse where you live? I’d love to hear what it was like and where you saw it! Let me know in the comments.

Here are a couple more of my favorite photos from the morning. Have a great week sweet friends, and chat with you next Friday!