Menu for an Annular Eclipse

This morning was the annular eclipse of the sun here in Japan--the type of eclipse in which a slim ring of sun is visible when the moon is positioned between the earth and sun.

But we awoke in Kamakura to...

RAIN!

Our plan had been to take a breakfast picnic to the beach and watch the eclipse from there, and, determined, we got out the bicycles...just as the rain began pouring down.

So we leaned out our second story window instead, implored the clouds, waited, and incredibly, the rain ceased, the clouds politely shifted, and there it was...

SUN!

We donned our cool eclipse glasses to see that the moon had turned the sun into a crescent...

and within minutes we had a full annular eclipse--a challenge to photograph without blinding yourself, especially when hanging out a second-story window with eclipse glasses half on.

As the ring turned back to a crescent, we punch a hole in cardboard and projected onto cardboard covered with white paper.

Then punched a few more holes and added the date.

And as the crescent disappeared in the clouds we turned to the breakfast we'd planned to carry to the beach...all wrapped in a furoshiki...

and packed in a laquerware set of round stacking boxes purchased in Kyushu many years ago.

Round foods, in honor of the sun and moon, including fruits...

nikuman steamed buns, hard-boiled eggs and grilled vegetables...

and, of course, sweets: cookies, mushipan steamed cakes, kashiwa mochi sweets wrapped in oak leaves, and mini dorayaki pancakes.

We'd planned to feast at the beach, but it was nice and dry and a lot less sandy just dining at home.

We're so grateful that the clouds parted. The next annular eclipse in Japan isn't until 2030. It would have been a long wait.