We are lucky.....

North America and Mexico have a great view of tonight's eclipse.

Since posting my last information on the eclipse, I have seen several different years given since the last one.  ABC News said 456 years, Space.com said 372, so I don't know which is right.... there has only been that one recorded in 2,000 years.  We don't have to wait that long for the next one though - Dec 21, 2094.  Only 83 more years!

Also my times were not broad enough - the first bite out of the moon from the earth's shadow is 1:33 AM EST.  Totality is 2:41 EST for 72 mins, ending at 3:53 EST, ending at 5:01.  If you are only going to dash out for a second - the darkest of the eclipse will be about 3:15 AM EST.

In addition tonight is the Ursids meteor shower and since the moon will be darkened for over an hour we may be able to see the meteors.  Usually they when there is a full moon and they are hard to see.

This Tuesday, December 21, at 12:47 PM, EST 

is the Winter Solstice,

and a Lunar Eclipse that begins at 2:41 to 3:53 AM, EST.

The last time they happened together was 456 years ago.

Us and the lucky residents of 1564!

It was a busy year,

Galileo was born and Shakespeare baptized,

and that same year

Michelangelo died.

It will be quite a night in Cuyutlan.

It is the last night of the Festival for the Virgin of Guadalupe.  After the dancers arrive in the main street across from the church, the Toritos come out, (young men put on bamboo cages made to look like bulls - toros, so toritos is little bull)  Below is a photo of the unfinished frame in back of the church. 

Fireworks are strapped on these cages.

At certain times during the dancing, the rockets are lit and the torito runs, that's right, runs through the crowd.  People are screaming, running every which way.  It is a blast!  Do I have to point out that would never be allowed in the united states.  Last time I was almost trampled by a little old lady trying to get out of their way.  Ok so her shawl was slightly on fire.....

The best part is the Castillo (castle) that is set up in front of the church.  It too is a bamboo structure and filled with fireworks.  When lit a chain reaction of explosions and fireworks are set off. 

Lots more screaming, it is very exciting.

Finally the top is lighting up, the fireworks spin the top around and it actually lifts off and flies into the black sky.

I wish I was in Cuyutlan tonight.... Especially tonight.

view from the beach.....

That's my good friend Betsy who just graced us with a nice long visit. She was working on her base tan in Florida on her way to the Caribbean.

It was pretty funny.  We had just gotten what I considered a cold spell.  I was wearing a jacket and scarf and she was in her bikini tanning.

We went into the grocery store on the way back from the beach. The man at the check out look at both of us, then said that he could tell who was visiting who.

She thought it was just me and that I was crazy until the afternoon we met with our realtor friend at a house we wanted to see.  Edna got out of the car with a big white down jacket on with the hood up, "freezing out, isn't it?" she says as she hops out.

I certainly have acclimatized to Florida!  Being warm is easy to get use to....

Really Big Cat.

This is not the actual bobcat I saw in my yard last night but one very similar. One main difference was that the one in my yard had it's head up and was just strutting along!  Not watchful like the one in the photo.

Here is how it went.  I was sitting at the table in the yard, toward the back under a large oak tree, it was just starting to getting sun setty.  I am facing the south line of the property toward a small chain link fence with a flower bed I planted all along it.  I am maybe 15 ' from the fence.  I am reading.  Something catches my eye.

I look up and this big, huge, gigantic cat is right in front of me and calmly walking down the south property line between me and the flowers, down the lawn, toward the back.  He never looks at me or gives any indication that he knows I am there.  I panic inside but know to keep still.

Once he has walked deep into the empty lot behind us - I run into the house.

I was terrified.  It was not rational. It was primal.

He was so huge, so close and so calm, he owned the place, not me.

When they said that there was a lot of wildlife here in Florida, I did not think they meant my yard.

One of my favorite authors just won the Nobel Prize for Literature

Mario Vargas Llosa

These are 2 of my favorites books

 The Feast of the Goat is about the horrid dictator of the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961.  It is a political thriller, told by a young girl returning to the Dominican Republic 30 years after the assassination.  She had fled as a 14 year old girl and she came back for answers.

The Storyteller is about a Peruvian man who is living in Europe and becomes fascinated with a remote tribe living in the Amazon.  It is a detective story that becomes so much more as Mr. Llosa comments on the implications and ethics of the developing region and the cultural impacts.

Viva Peru!

Beth's new book - check it out!!               http://www.blurb.com/books/1628133

Front cover

back cover