Week 189: Eclipse viewer

In the last few minutes before pick-up, I knock together a cereal box eclipse viewer. Hasty but effective. When I get to R’s nursery, her first words are ‘Daddy! I made an eclipse box!’ It is clear even before I even hold it that hers is better than mine. Proud/crestfallen. In the car home we see a bunch of people starting to gather on the West Hill behind our house. I ask if she wants to join it. She’s a bit nervous about the whole thing. She asks me (for something like the eighth time) if I’ve seen one before and I answer ‘No, I didn’t see the eclipse when I was little.’ She invents and acts out a little message thread between the sun and the moon, asking if they want to meet up for the eclipse. We chat about it over dinner, and at roughly the right time we head up to the top floor. Ann and I’s bedroom – which has a lovely view at the worst of times – has an ideal view of the eclipse. We try out the viewers for a bit and make sure the eclipse glasses fit. It’s a bit special seeing a…