I went to Albarricin for the eclipse.

It was all a bit stressful, because we went to a place where two phone apps agreed that the sun would be above the horizon for the eclipse, but not by much, and we were all eyeballing it and worrying. We unpacked our equipment and set up tripods. My husband McGyvered me a solar filter out of half a pair of solar glasses.

Twenty-five minutes before the eclipse it really didn’t look good.

Then, at maybe 70% eclipsed, the sun went behind the cloud. We all saw the sky getting darker and darker and looking at the watches and thinking, ‘Nope it’s not going to come out. Well maybe, but probably not.’

According to my watch, totality had just started when the sun popped out from under the cloud. Five seconds later, we had the diamond ring as the last bit of sun slipped behind the moon, and then the full eclipse. It was amazing.

Totality looks totally unreal, as though someone shot a missile through the dome of the sky. I forgot to breathe and stared at it in disbelief, even though I’d known what to expect. It must have been terrifying for anyone who saw one and didn’t know what was happening.

I grabbed photos as best I could, between gawping. Of course it was over in a minute, and the sun was setting by the time we packed up.

Unfortunately, all my good photos are on a DSLR and I forgot to bring the cable to upload them to my laptop. This one is from my phone camera, and my phone is over four years old.