Boxing Day's Solar Eclipse by Elizabeth

I have had a cold for the last few days and I was in need of more medicine. We drove to the pharmacy and while mom was checking out, the lady at the cashier said that there would be a solar eclipse at 2:50pm! When we got back into the car, we told Michael, Dad, and Nana. They were all excited and Michael set an alarm on his watch for when it was supposed to happen. I felt so thrilled because the last time we tried to see a solar eclipse, we had missed it because we had the time wrong. I hoped that this time we would be accurate!

To pass time, we all visited the museum in town. The main entrance fee was way too expensive, so we payed for the cheaper art gallery. I was disappointed because the museum was supposed to be well-made with lots of information. However, the art that an American woman did was beautiful. She made batik works depicting village and city life. I think Nana really enjoyed seeing the different paintings and their meanings. After browsing for 30 minutes, I took my medicine and we had some tea in the gift shop.




It was almost time for the eclipse and my heart was beating with anticipation! Mom asked the man who worked at the gift shop for a piece of receipt paper. He gave some to her and Mom explained our plan. She poked a hole in the receipt with her earring and explained that if we hold a brochure behind the hole, the eclipse would be projected onto the the paper. We hurried outside to try it and it worked! We could see a small part of the sun being covered by the moon!

A few minutes later, the moon completely covered the sun and only a ‘ring of fire’ surrounded it. I figured out that if I took a picture of the eclipse with Mom’s phone, a blue reflection went in the top corner! Everything turned an eerie color and our shadows were long and fuzzy. The holes through the trees created the same effect as our paper on the white wall of the church! It was so amazing!