Photo courtesy of AP images


coffee to go
tanka with kigo
Annette Marie Hyder

after one huge bite
the moon licks its sun smeared lips
looks for the waitress
at this heavenly diner
and says "put it on my tab"


Century's longest total solar eclipse

The English word eclipse comes from the Greek word for "abandonment" or "a forsaking" (ekleipsis). Ancient peoples thought, among other things (see Missing Sun Motif in Solar Mythology), that the sun literally abandoned the earth during an eclipse. By that way of thinking, today, July 22, 2009, the sky shall be bereaved of the sun.


From the Associated Press:

TOKYO, Japan — Millions of Asians turned their eyes skyward Wednesday as dawn suddenly turned to darkness across the continent in the longest total solar eclipse this century will see. Millions of others, fearing a bad omen, shuttered themselves indoors.

Chinese launched fireworks and danced in Shanghai. On a remote Japanese island, bewildered cattle went to their feeding troughs thinking night had fallen. And in India, a woman was crushed as thousands of viewers crowded the banks of the Ganges for a glimpse.

Starting off in India just after dawn, the eclipse was visible across a wide swath of Asia before moving over southern Japan and then off into the Pacific Ocean. In some parts of Asia, it lasted as long as 6 minutes and 39 seconds.

The eclipse is the longest since July 11, 1991, when a total eclipse lasting 6 minutes, 53 seconds was visible from Hawaii to South America. There will not be a longer eclipse than Wednesday's until 2132.

The celestial event was met by a mixture of awe, excitement and fear.

Read the entire article here.

Related links:
NASA Eclipse Web Site
Solar Eclipses of Historical Interest
Missing Sun Motif in Solar Mythology

Not related at all really:
Total Eclipse of the Heart Literal Video Version