I know the internet is ablaze with pictures of the Aurora Borealis, and I approve. In fact, I haven't feel such cohesiveness in social media in, well, ever ... I firmly believe that social media's purpose in life is to share cat memes/videos and collective amazing events like this.
I've always wanted to see the Northern Lights, but expected that I'd have to travel to some cold, Nordic country to do so. When they appeared, so vibrantly, in the Colorado sky, visible to the naked eye, on Veteran's Day I was awe struck. We just don't get to see them, not with the eyes God gave us, anyway.
I saw something pop up on Facebook that basically said, "go outside NOW, and look at the sky", then I started seeing pictures pop up from local friends. I slipped into my muck boots, threw on a coat, and walked to the north end of the property, away from the security lights.
The glow took my breath away, and I snapped a few pictures with my regular phone settings. I stood out there for a few minutes feeling so blessed to get to see them, but had to head back inside because I had dinner on the stove.
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This is a pretty accurate representation of what
my eyes saw. |
Digger and the Gremlin were visiting, so I made them come out and look as well. Digger was properly awed, but the Gremlin didn't much care. And why would he? He's three and a half, and has no idea how rare it is to see the dancing lights in Colorado.
The light show just kept going and going. After dinner, I headed back out to take more pictures, using the night setting on my phone as someone suggested. Holy wow, what a difference! These pictures were taken from essentially the same place as the earlier ones. The sky was a bit brighter, as the lights really came on strong, but using the night setting on the camera made a huge difference.
L.E. had been at yoga, and when she drove in, I accosted her as she got out of her car. I made her come stand with me under the magical lights.
We stood out there a bit, then Digger and the Gremlin came to tell us goodbye, and we got another little piece of magic. Gremlin has been speech delayed, but he's catching up by leaps and bounds ever since their living situation improved. He told me bye, then looked over at L.E. and said, "bye bye, L.E." then gave her a big hug. We all just melted, it's the first time he's called her by name and said it so clearly.
I wasn't ready to be done with the lights when they left, so I went over to the sunset bench and moved it so we could see the lights. L.E. and I just sat out there together for a bit, enjoying the show.
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| The view from the sunset bench. |
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I'm happy to have gotten the green and
red layer, as well as the stars. |
It really was a magical night, and who knows when I'll get to see them, visible to the naked eye, again?
