And the skies lit up!

 

So I had set my alarm for 11pm and thought I'd look out the window to see if I could spot the Aurora Borealis.

I saw nothing. I got a drink of water and then checked my cell phone and social media. A friend of our in Missouri had posted some shots of the northern lights at their house. I scrolled a bit more and another friend had some shots from Madison, from Racine, and some from Viroqua.

I got dressed and walked outside. I looked up in the sky and it seemed their were some faint clouds over the shed.

I used night shots on my cell phone and took a photo.

Green? Weird skies!
Then I realized what I was seeing for the second time in my life. 

It was the Aurora Borealis.

I grabbed my camera and set about to work. I tried to recall the settings I should use and then finally I settled on the camera settings I use for shooting the Milky Way.

I did a bunch of flubs before I realized I was just taking random shots of colors. The lights kept changing slowly and I was mesmerized.

In fact at one point, I just laid on the gravel driveway and let myself enjoy the show. Life is about being in the moment. And man...

I was deep in the moment....

And then my brain simply seemed to explode or maybe implode.

It was crazy. 

I finally decided to just frame the photo with the pines that surround our house.

Looking west.

I decided to see if I could do star trails that include the Northern Lights. I wasn't sure it would turn out well, but if it worked, it could be pretty cool.

I set the camera up for a 15 minute LiveComp with Starry Auto Focus and let the magic happen inside the camera while I laid back down on the driveway to watch the sky do Nature's Artwork.

I got cold laying on the ground but it was worth every minute of it. I couldn't leave if I wanted to. I was stuck watching the lights until they faded away.

Now I understand why people book trips to Norway to go see the lights. They are breathtaking in every way.

They are silent.
They explode your brain cells.
They are musical and magical.

I'm glad I witnessed this.

It will be a night I will never forget.

Grasses

This week I finally got out to pick some weeds and try to get some really artistic grass photos.

Yeah. What about grasses? They have interesting textures in November and December. 

These were parts of nature that I'd never looked at before. I mean come on...grass? What is interesting about grass?

Years ago, my supervisor at the Power Plant and I would walk along the perimeter fence and I'd point out wild flowers. He'd point out different grasses.

I'd nod and look at the delicate grasses that he'd name and then I'd point out a wildflower.

I wish I'd paid more attention to his knowledge of grasses.

The varieties are endless: bluestem grasses, switch grass, wild rye, indian grass, and dropseed grasses. 

I don't know bupkis about grasses. Nada. Nothing.

But I was enchanted by the grasses I found alongside the cropland in the neighbor's land.

I mean, it is just grass right? Weeds? 

Fall grasses fading
glowing gold in 
the morning sun
waiting for the 
snows...

Once the winter snows flatten the grasses, they will drop their seeds and burst forth again in the spring. I guess I never thought about grasses that way. It was just grass. But like everything else in the forest that I admire, it seeks to rejuvenate just as other plants do.

The older I get, the more I realize I don't know

much.

Abstract designs by 
~Grasses