All day long, scattered white clouds floated across the sky. By the time the moon rolled out from behind the mountains to the east, most of the clouds were gone, leaving only diaphanous footprints against the darkening blue backdrop of early evening.
I kept an eye on that moon as the wisps played peek-a-boo with it, suspecting that something special was on the way.
An amazing moon it was, big and full. Once shed of those pesky clouds, its illumination onto this snow-covered land turned night as bright as day.
Something on TV kept me up late and it was midnight when I turned off the living room lights and put a cover over Pablo’s cage. Through the dining room window next to his cage, neon green caught my eye. I grabbed two cameras and ran for the door.
The temperature was five degrees above zero as I stood outside taking photos of the Aurora Borealis. The gigantic mounds of snow limited where I could go to frame the pictures.
When the display quieted for a while, I jumped into the truck and headed north, searching for a different perspective. I hung around Tern Lake for a bit, then decided I needed even wider horizons.
Three miles farther north, I parked right on the highway at the Mile 40 signpost, leaving only my parking lights on. By then it was 1 am and I saw only three vehicles in an hour’s time, but overhead, an almost constant choreography played across the sky.
We seldom see red in the lights this far south of the Auroral Belt, but last night I saw red on the edges of the curtains swishing about. Just hints, mind you, but red nonetheless.
By 2 in the morning the display has settled down and I was cold, so I headed home.
Perhaps tonight there will be more. The sun has been active with solar flares and the sky remains clear this afternoon.
Perhaps tonight….
(To fill your home with the Northern Lights, click on a photo. When the thumbnail strip comes up, RIGHT click on the photo, click on 'View Image', wait for the enlargement, then left click on it for full screen.)
