Yesterday was an exciting morning in Texas and many other places and surprisingly, Paper Pumpkin helped us see the Eclipse 2023. We had beautiful, perfect weather (after a long, very hot summer!) with clear blue skies. If you had rain or clouds you probably didn’t get to see it.

This was an annular eclipse where the moon blocks the view of the sun from the earth. In a total eclipse, the moon entirely blocks the sun. In this annular eclipse the moon is farther away from the earth so it appears smaller and when it blocks the sun, it doesn’t completely cover the sun which leaves a “ring of fire” around the edge. We didn’t see that here in Houston, but we had about 85% coverage. We could have driven a few hours farther southwest and had better coverage.

Of course we all know you shouldn’t look directly at the sun during an eclipse. We didn’t have the special glasses so we had to use other methods to see the eclipse. First of all, the easiest thing is to look at the sidewalk at the shadows of the leaves from the trees. You can very clearly see the shape of the eclipse.

As time went on there were more and more shadow, in the street, up to our front porch, everywhere! Probably our favorite one was the shadows on the front of the house and the roof.

Then my husband was playing around out on the patio in the backyard. I had been working on finishing up some old Paper Pumpkin kits so I had some empty boxes on the dryer inside the box door ready to go out in the recycle bin. My husband grabbed one and did the old pinhole trick of punched a small hole in the box and focusing it on a box on the ground. I realized he was using a Paper Pumpkin box so I got the idea to post it on my blog!

Then he also brought out my mother’s old colander that I still use and that made a fantastic artistic pattern!

I think this is really cool! Of course, the photo isn’t as sharp as it was seeing it in person but you get the idea!

That was our exciting morning of tracking the eclipse from around 10:30 am to the maximum eclipse around noon, and then ending around 1:30 pm. Besides viewing the eclipse, it was fun to see other neighbors outside and get to chat with them! Usually we are inside our airconditioned houses, but as I said the weather yesterday was perfect for being outside!

So next time there is an eclipse, grab an empty Paper Pumpkin box and let it help you see the shapes of the eclipse without endangering your eyes!

Get your Paper Pumpkin box HERE with a fun papercrafting project inside. All the materials you need are included except scissors. No risk, no obligation! Try it out for at least one month and see if you enjoy it! It’s fun to get a Paper Pumpkin Kit in your mailbox once a month!

Here is the November Paper Pumpkin Kit! Make treat boxes for the holidays! Or use the materials to design your own projects! Sign up by November 10th!