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We were at 97% totality. We had great viewing. The darkness was so weird -- a different shade than when storm clouds are rolling in. The darkness on the ground, yet still completely bright & sunny in other areas reminded me of Magritte's painting Empire of Light. Kind of makes me wonder if it was less a surrealist painting & perhaps just a rendering of an eclipse? Very cool. We watched through different parts of it & are glad we were in a good location with clear views. My dd was in a different area of town & said when it got dark where she was, she heard crickets & frogs starting up as if dusk had arrived. My sister & dad were in a totality area today & said it was completely awesome.

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A few book club friends & I went to see The Glass Castle movie last week. We read the book years & years ago. I really enjoyed the book/memoir, in spite of some of the truly horrific parts. The movie was also very good, imo. (Btw, in that still picture there, I had those.exact.same.earrings in the late 80s/early 90s. :lol:) The ending of the movie actually shows some of Jeannette Walls & her family (not the actors). Our conversation after the movie was interesting. One person was very unforgiving of the parents in the movie (unlike Jeanette herself, who seems to have come to terms with her life) & didn't cry as I did during the movie because she found it hard to forgive the parents in general & the dad specifically. I think both the book & movie will elicit different responses based on each person's upbringing & their parents to a certain extent. We also talked about mental health issues affecting families & how Jeanette's family in particular dealt with life & how each of the children responded to the life she/he lived. If you enjoyed The Glass Castle (the book or movie), I think you would also very much enjoy the book Half Broke Horses, Jeannette Walls' story of her maternal grandmother. It's a mix of truth & fictionalized truth, I suppose. When I read it, I liked it even more than The Glass Castle.

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Thank you!

Tufted titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, cardinals, purple finches, pine warblers, hawks once in awhile, doves, hummingbirds, sometimes blue jays, bluebirds, crows, carolina wrens, sometimes robins, sometimes eastern towhees, sparrows, and juncos once in awhile. And one time I saw a rose-breasted grosbeak, but only that one time. Eta: Other animals I routinely see in our yard -- squirrels, chipmunks, possums, and raccoons. I have also seen deer, foxes, and rabbits.

Nash Frank Nicole Francis Nevada (for either a boy or a girl)

I am from the south and have lived in the south for most of my life. I have never had this happen with any doctor. However, I did have a pharmacist once go off into a long religious soliloquy (that seemed entirely inappropriate for his profession and where he indicated he would not dispense certain medicines because they went against his religious beliefs) because I had turned in a prescription for my ds (who has the same name as one of the apostles). I assume he thought I shared his belief system solely based on my ds' name. I have never used that pharmacy again and that was about a dozen years ago. It was one located at a major grocery store chain. I do encounter offers for prayers every now and then in my daily life; that does not bother me as it is usually offered in a caring spirit. A few weeks ago, my arm was bandaged and I had two separate, regular customers at work offer to pray for me and my arm. Ironically (per this discussion), neither person is from the south -- both are originally from other countries.

:grouphug: :grouphug:

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:grouphug: :grouphug:

Send you and your family and your cat many hugs.

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