Revive25 in 2025: Revive Sky Memories

The 5th mini project for my Revive25 in 2025 Project is to revive sky memories. 

With the lunar eclipse on March 21st, I wondered when I began noticing and appreciating beauty in the sky. What were my oldest photos and memories? By looking back, I could then look forward to appreciate more sky moments. Could they be recreated intentionally or did they happen by coincidence or synchronicity?

I thought I had seen a lunar eclipse before and also wanted to remember the story details of the comet I saw in the late 1990's, so I went searching through my photo albums and digital photo collection. The earliest sky photo I found is of a rainbow I took in high school. I think this is perhaps common with everyone that when we had film cameras, we didn't waste photos by taking them of the sky. A rainbow was extra special. 

I have often heard that when we inherit photos, we should get rid of landscapes, places and things. It's the people photos that are most important. That may be true, but I think that photos of places and things also tell the story of who the person was and what they loved.

Many of my earlier sky photos were taken on holiday. Growing up in northern Ontario or living in Toronto, I didn't necessarily notice the sky on a daily basis. I have photos taken from 22nd floor condo view of Lake Ontario when I first moved to Toronto, but not many from just being out.

On our honeymoon, we went down to the beach in the evening with a bottle of champagne. The half moon was so bright and beautiful, we took photos of each other on the beach, zooming out to capture the moon in the background. We also enjoyed the sunsets on that trip. 

On future Caribbean trips, we loved the sunrises and sunsets. I went down to a pier to capture the sunrise every morning on our trip to Jamaica in 2012. Being close to the horizon when the sun is rising or setting, it appears much larger than it does after it has risen above the buildings in Toronto.

These views helped me appreciate the beauty of the sky but if we see it every day, it can stop being special. There's a full moon every month. Some are closer to the earth and called supermoons, but I think seeing it every month, it can stop being special. I love seeing full moons not too often and not too rarely. It's a fine line of how often we want to experience these events.

It's easier today with social media and the news reporting when upcoming eclipses, supermoons and nothern lights are happening. 

Anticipating the lunar eclipse, I thought I had seen one before. I wanted to connect these past moments that may have been lost in the clutter of photo collections and photo albums. I found my terrible photos taken with my point and shoot camera from the 2008 lunar eclipse on February 20th. Having a better camera now, I hoped to take better photos. 

Knowing the lunar eclipse totality would peak at 3am, my husband set up the camera settings before we went to bed so that I could capture the various phases of the eclipse. (He captured the bottom right photo of the quad at this time). I took the other three after totality. The auto setting captured the orange or "blood" moon we could see, but his manual settings captured the shadow beautifully. 

My plan was to wake at 2:30pm, experience the blood moon during totality then go back to bed at 3:30pm. It was still beautiful at 3:30, the orange was still visible as it appeared three quarter orange as the shadow moved away from totality, and then half orange.

Before going back inside, beautiful spiral clouds appeared. I wondered for quite a while if it was the beginning of Northern Lights. Once when I saw the Northern Lights, it began with rainbow shaped clouds. I was in awe of the clouds and didn't know whether to look at the lunar eclipse or the clouds. 

I stayed up much later than I planned, which helped me capture the phases of totality. 

The next day, I saw on a Northern Lights site that there had been Northern Lights during the lunar eclipse, so perhaps the very light green tinge on some photos were part of a very faint aurora. Either way, the sky was spectacular.

Another pivotal moment I wanted to connect that gave me a love of the night sky was in Sedona in 2015 for my husband's business reward trip. The company organized an astronomy evening where astronomers brought their huge telescopes into a field and gave us a lesson on the night sky. We loved looking at the planets and stars through the telescope; even seeing Jupiter's rings. My husband managed to get an amazing night sky photo including a satellite trails and the milky way.

Sedona has a dark sky designation, meaning they have regulations that limit light pollution so it's an amazing place to see the night sky. Connecting this memory is inspiring me to experience the night sky again in these low light pollution places.

I remember the first partial solar eclipse I witnessed in 2017. The Ontario Science Centre were handing out eclipse glasses that morning. It was chaos with so many people wanting the glasses. The lineup was so long but I was happy I got a pair. We set up a camera on a tripod at the park, but we didn't get a good photo of the eclipse. At least we could see it with our eyes while wearing the protective glasses. That evening we went to see Coldplay in concert. What a coincidence that we were seeing an eclipse on the day that we would hear Coldplay sing "the moon and its eclipse" on the song Something Just Like This. I made sure I captured the lyrics when they came up on the the backdrop and graphics. Connecting these two moments together helped me to remember the eclipse and the concert. Every time the song plays, I remember that day. 

There was another partical eclipse in the fall of 2023. Unlike 2017 when it was 70%, there wasn't as much attention given to this one that was only 39%, especially with the total eclipse expected six months later. It was supposed to be rainy and cloudy. I didn't bother to look for my eclipse glasses. I went out to run an errand that took me longer that I thought it would. Driving home, it was partly sunny and close to the time that the partial eclipse would be at its peak for Toronto. The song, Something Just Like This came on my playlist and I heard "the moon and its eclipse." Hearing it gave me a nudge to try to "see" the eclipse even if I couldn't look at it directly without eclipse glasses.

When I got home, I put the zoom lens on my camera and went out to try to capture it. Barely anything was visible, it was just a big sunburst. I tried to take photos with my sunglasses and polarizing filters in front of the camera, but it didn't look like it worked. In ten minutes, I took twelve photos and gave up.

After lunch, I uploaded the photos to my computer, wondering if I could edit them in order to see something. What a surprise I got when I saw the partial eclipse in one of the photos!! I hadn't noticed it on the small LCD screen of the camera.

It surprised me how happy I was to have captured this one and how close I got to say, "maybe next time." I have often said that it's easy to say no or next time, but often it's worth it to say yes and try. 

This motivated me to be better prepared for the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024 (one year ago today as I publish this post). I ordered solar eclipse glasses (paper and plastic ones that looked like real glasses). I never wanted to be without eclipse glasses again. I was excited that Toronto would have a 99% partial eclipse, but then a friend told me that it would be 100% an hour away. Hearing that a total eclipse is SO much better than a partial eclipse, we drove to Caledonia in order to see the total eclipse and it exceeded our expectations. It was cloudy at times and we worried that we wouldn't see it, but the clouds parted just at the perfect time.

I'm happy I took videos so I hear the excitement in my voice (even if it's a bit embarrassing) and the cheering of the crowd when it went completely dark in the middle of the day (you may want to turn down the volume before playing it). It takes me back to that moment.

I want to connect these moments, the lunar eclipses with the solar eclipses; the sunrises and sunsets; the rainbows and northern lights; the day sky and night sky. By connecting all these sky memories, they become more meaningful by recognizing where the interest and appreciation began and then grew. It reminds me of these happy moments and makes me want to experience more. 

A couple of days after the lunar eclipse, we arrived home from our neighbourhood walk just as it began to pour. I thought we were lucky to have arrived just in time. Ten or fifteen minutes later, the sun started to come out. It was still raining and I wondered if there was a rainbow. I remembered an earlier lesson I learned, if you want to see a rainbow, you sometimes have to be willing to go out in the rain. The rainbow I saw that afternoon reminded me of the rainbows we saw in Hawaii. These were other moments to connect.

We can't plan ahead for rainbows like we can with eclipses or supermoons, so I really want to appreciate when I get the chance to see them now. I want to make plans to experience these moments when we know they will occur. If I'm somewhere close to the horizon I want to see the sunrises, sunsets, moonrises or moonsets that appear more spectacular. I want to notice the sky when there are beautiful clouds, and especially I hope to some day see rainbow clouds (cloud iridescence). I didn't know they existed until a year or two ago. When I'm at my cottage in Northern Ontario, I check the Northern Lights forecast hoping to see the Northern Lights. 

Looking back at what we love, gives us hope to experience more. I hope I encourage you to follow some of your nudges to revive memories, connect moments and dream to experience more of what you love.

When we work on projects we're passionate about, I believe that we attract more of what we pay attention to. While I was working on this mini-project, I went for a walk on a rare warm day this spring and noticed beautiful and unusual clouds. They may not have been magical like rainbow clouds or a heart cloud, but I still took it as a sign that I was on the right path and to keep going and follow my heart.