Northern Lights, Take II

After I'd taken my fill of pictures on Veteran's Day, I finally called it a day and crawled into bed. I was scrolling through social media, as one does when they're supposed to be sleeping, and I saw so many pictures of people who thought to use the Aurora as a background for other pictures.

I saw people standing with their horses, dogs, friends, family ... so many different pictures using the gorgeous lights as a background, and I cursed myself for not thinking of doing it myself. However, the meteorologists said that the Aurora would make another appearance the following day, and they'd be even more spectacular. I'm not sure how they thought they'd be more spectacular than what I'd already seen, but I was willing to trust them. 

I knew I didn't want to bother with pulling the horses from the pen once the sun was down, and I didn't want to try to get pictures of them in the pen, so that was out.

However ... I knew I needed pictures of Whimsy and Maggie in the foreground of the lights. I waited and waited all day, excited to see the lights again and planning my photoshoot of the buildings. Dark came and I waited and waited.

Nothing.

No extra bright visible lights as had been promised by those lying meteorologists. I mean, I shouldn't have been disappointed, because when are they ever right more than 50% of the time? But I persisted. I went out every half hour or so with my phone and took pictures of the sky, just in case the lights weren't visible to the naked eye.

Eventually, it paid off, and I had a full-on photoshoot with Whimsy and Maggie. I stayed up way past my bedtime, and the next day at work was rough, but I got some pictures that I'm happy with.

Whimsy (left) and Maggie (right) 12Nov2025

I tried a little different angle to see if I could get both of them.

I love this one of Whimsy

This one of Maggie is probably my favorite of the bunch.

The chicken coop/repurposed silo on the far left (barely visible),
then Whimsy and Maggie.

I'm happy with the pictures, but still kicking myself that I didn't think to do this the night before. I need to give myself some grace, because the night before was all about wonder and awe. I'm still so thrilled to have finally seen the dancing lights that I think it might go down as one of my top ten days this year.

It Took 54 Years

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.

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. 

The view from the sunset bench.

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?