The experts recommended viewing the solar eclipse from a location where one could see Mount Taylor. Mount Taylor is in the distance on the left-hand side of the panorama above. The haze is smoke from fires in Arizona. This location is about 25 miles west of our house, and fairly remote; however, there was a group of people camped on a hill about a quarter mile south of where I set up my camera who were celebrating the eclipse. They all cheered when it first started and then started playing drums and flutes, and were having a great time. So even though we were out in the middle of nowhere, we had decent background music, interrupted with cheers at the various points, as we watched the sun slip behind the moon.

Most of the photos I took from the first cheer to after the “ring of fire” are very sharp, properly exposed, and very boring; however, I softened the focus and over exposed a couple of the the photos during the eclipse, which added a little color and some interest, in my opinion. I pulled the zoom back from 600 mm to 140 mm at one point during the 4 minutes the full eclipse lasted, and over exposed the image enough to get a little bit of the landscape under the “ring of fire”. One aspect that was truly spectacular with this type of eclipse was to see the two perfect circles of the moon and sun together.

We worked in the yard most of the afternoon today. About 30 minutes before sunset we starting hauling the weeds we’d pulled, dug and hoed over to the driveway and putting them in the low spots. Every time I dumped a load of weeds I noticed the hazy light at the top of the road was becoming more and more interesting. I finally left the empty wheelbarrow and pitchfork by a pile of weeds and photographed the sunset on the road.

At one point when Laurie went inside to get something, Stretch was being a bonsai and struck a wonderful pose for her. When I brought the camera back in from photographing the road, I noticed the little bit of sunshine still making it through the window was shining on a couple of the pink Peony in the new arrangement Laurie made and that it left a nice reflection it the window. I finally made it back outside to finish hauling the remaining piles of weeds, but with so many photo ops constantly presenting themselves to us, it’s amazing how much yard work we got done today.

I checked the irrigation ditch after the sun went down to see if by chance there was water. I figured I’d irrigate tonight and save myself getting up a 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning to irrigate. Alas, someone already had the gate down, and the ditch was only 1/4 full. I hope whoever is using it up north finishes and releases the water by the wee hours of the morning.

We’ve put 10 new roses in what we call the “Circle Garden”, replacing roses that had died. I’m starting to overhaul the drip system, I cut all the dead canes out of the rose bushes, and we have all the weeds out of the area outside the circle garden ready for new cardboard and mulch.  We recycle cardboard by laying it on the ground and then spreading about 2 to 3 inches of mulch on top of the cardboard. The cardboard eventually composts, but until in does it helps keep the weeds from growing in the mulch.

 

I tried out my new solar filters on the noon day sun, and the sun at 7:30 pm this afternoon (the time of the full eclipse on Sunday) to see how they work. The filters reduce the light by 9 stops, and I’m underexposing the photos by another five stops from what the light meter would like the exposure to be. The noon day sun is through cloud cover, and shot at 600 mm. The 7:30 sun, shot at 400 mm, is shining through a hazy sky. Both photos are full-frame, how they came out of the camera.

We got new welding helmets to view the eclipse with. They say cheap 3-D type glasses can be used to view the eclipse, but the welding helmets with #10 glass are equivalent to  about 11 stops on the camera, so the sun looks very much like today’s photos viewing it through the welding helmets. We laid out on the chaise lounges at lunch and watched the clouds pass under the sun through the welding helmets. It was very entertaining.

The kitties were really happy to have me home working in the garden this morning. Guildenstern smashed flowers and chewed on catnip, and Diné guarded one of the tomatoes while I worked on drippers for the vegetable garden.

 

 

 

 

 

I got home after sunset tonight, so by the time I got out into the garden all the colors were fading to B & W. I set my ISO at 3200 and did my best to capture the twilight as it danced on the web and roses against the graying background as the day slipped into night.

 

 

 

 

 

America had a soft, backlit glow from the early morning light coming through the kitchen windows this morning.

Laurie got Stretch lounging on the trellis under American this morning, and she got the arrangement she made with peony and Iceberg in the nice afternoon light. Diné was beating up on poor Rosencrantz. Rosencrantz is almost twice the size and weight as Diné, but since she is still top cat, he lets her kick his butt. The last photos show three of the eight new roses we got last weekend: Gingersnap, Granada and Judy Garland.

 

On my way home about 7:40 pm I was thinking the sun will be just a little higher on Sunday during the eclipse, so I snapped a drive-by of the low sun from I-25 as an eclipse preview. Berries ‘n’ Cream is taking over the north side of the deck, and Altisimo has been putting on some of its best roses this year.

 

 

 

The roses for today are Camisole and the center of Tuscan Sun. Guildenstern was laying under one of our new lounge chairs and refused to look at the camera.

 

 

 

Painted ladies were fluttering around in the salvia while I was working on the canopies we park our cars under this afternoon. I guess they got used to me being there as I climbed up and down the ladder, messed with the fabric and fasteners, and cursed the wind, because when I finished fixing the canopies, I grabbed my camera and they let me get close to them with the camera.

When I came back from an errand late this afternoon, Puck was laying on the wall in a really good spot that would have resulted in a great composition; but the second I pointed my camera at him he started walking down the wall away from me. I said “Puck! You rotten cat. Can’t you pose for me?” He stopped sat on the wall, looked straight at me, stuck his tongue out at me as I snapped the photo, then jumped off the wall and ran off. Really bratty.

I used the leftover lumber from the canopy project to build a bonsai stand so we could put our large, gnarly bonsai ficus out on the deck for the summer. The stand came out really nice, so now I have to buy more material to build stands for the other two bonsai ficus. Being handy has its advantages and its drawbacks — between working on the canopy, building the bonsai stand, and the stormy weather we had today I can hardly move tonight.

Laurie planted eight new roses this afternoon in the rain. I took a break and laid on the chaise lounge with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern laying on my legs. We listened to the rain on the canopy while I read and drank coffee.

 

 

 

 

I started my summer schedule of 4-10s and taking Fridays off this week. We went to Lowe’s this morning and got material to fix the canopies we park the cars under and repair the plumbing to the outdoor kitchen. We also got companion plants for the Painted Tongue, and some outdoor lounge chairs the lay on and watch the stars. Then we dropped by Costco and picked up some more roses to replace some of the roses that have perished from the hard winters. Laurie was commenting about how we have had seven years in a row of really cold winters and springs that have killed a lot of our roses, and made the ones that survived suffer greatly. This winter and spring have been mild, and the roses, fruit trees and flowers are showing their appreciation.

The rare pink iris below is a good example. Laurie planted a variety of fancy iris five or six years ago. As I have commented before, this is the first year we are seeing many of the iris she planted so long ago bloom. This is the first time I remember seeing blooms on Remember Me, the rose in the penultimate photo. Most of our rosh bushes in more protected areas are in full bloom. Cherry Parfait is really loaded with blooms this year, and America, which is on the south side of the deck, has so many roses on it right now that the canes are bending over the deck, blocking access to the steps up to the sunroom.

I didn’t get to work on the canopies where we park the cars or spread mulch this afternoon because of wind, rain, hail and lightning. I did get the plumbing for the outdoor kitchen overhauled after a lot of frustration and an extra trip to Lowe’s. Plumbing projects are never easy.