One night of color.

My good friend Jason, the Geologist, texted me at 7 ish last night and said there was a good chance at seeing the Northern Lights.
I was sitting on the couch with Charlie and reading. Feeling rather sad as it was Veteran's Day and the 11th. 
The 11th hit me hard as it marks 8 weeks that I am missing someone ... and he was a Veteran. In fact I cancelled my gym workout. It was a workout that was honoring Veterans. 

That was just a bit too much for me. I'd decided I'd have a personal pity party and ignore FB and Social Media.

I was not going to get up, but then I walked to the back door and looked out. I could see the Aurora Borealis with my naked eye. It was stunning.

So I set up my camera to photo night skies and took the tripod out to the driveway.
This is what I saw...
👇👇👇

 There were airplanes flying in the left corner, lights from my neighbor across the ridge, and light from our house in the window.

I decided to drive up to the ridge where I watch sunrises and park. Maybe I'd get a better view.

Wow. I was in for a show.

I texted Olive and Cybil so they could check it out. Olive has a beautiful deck on the back of her house. She woke up her little boy and took him out to watch the show.

I sent cell shots to Jason, my son, and got texts from our friends in Missouri. They could see the light show also!

I used my Olympus camera which has Starry Sky Auto Focus on a tripod. I won't bore you with the other settings. But the Aurora was so bright, it blew out the exposure a couple of times!

The temperature was 35 F with a light frigid breeze. I wore insulated boots, coveralls, and a glove. I had to use my right hand to answer texts [I should have just ignored the messages!]. 
I set up the camera to do a star trail exposure and let it run for 19 minutes. It took 456 photos and stacked them in camera.

The colors merged and changed which I thought was crazy wild.

I tried another at 22 minutes. [At least it gave me a chance to stick my hands into my pockets while I sat out of the wind next to the car.]

The colors and the streaks of light were wild. Red and Green and Yellow.

The lights were even in the East. I took this shot looking over another farm not too far away. Their yard lights where quite bright but the sky was brighter.

After about 2 hours, I called it and went home to warm up. Clouds were moving in and I felt ecstatic.

I was somehow convinced that some ol' Veteran I loved had arranged this show for me. 

I went to bed as the clouds moved in.

Charlie woke me at 4:30. He had to get some business done. I followed him out and looked north.

Then I ran back in and grabbed my camera which was still set up from last night. The moonlight even caused a moon shadow on the house and lit up the gravel driveway.

The moon was bright, but I could plainly see the Aurora again.

Off I went to try and get a shot of it from the pasture.

I did several shots, and decided not to drive up to the ridge again.

It even showed faintly to the south.

I took one last shot from the back step and decided to go in and have coffee while the sky started to brighten in the east.

I consider this to be one more 'Once in a Lifetime Event' for me. How lucky am I to live in a relatively dark sky area?

I know it was a natural phenomenon, but I prefer to think that hubby put the show on for just me to cheer me up. It worked.

I'm feeling full of light this morning. Don't let anyone tell you that seeing the Aurora Borealis like this is not uplifting and amazing.

One night of color and a morning with pinks and reds just for me.

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.