Northern Lights!

      Many have posted beautiful pictures of the recent Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis.  Growing up at this northern latitude far from city lights A. B. were not unusual. For a number of years we lived in northern North Dakota about 25 miles from the Canadian border. There the A. B. were often seen and frequently even south of us. I had even a more dramatic experience of them.

    On a flight from Minneapolis to Bangkok, via Tokyo, I awakened at night. The GPS Flight Tracker on the monitor on the seat ahead showed that we were flying over Juneau, Alaska. Sitting in a window seat I raised the window shade to look at Juneau's lights, which indeed could be seeing. But flying at 40,000 feet we were flying through the A. B. Beautiful lights danced just outside the window and above and below us. It was a spectacular sight and lasted for a significant time.

   Two nights ago I stood on my front steps at 3:00 a.m. looking north to see if I could see the A.B. Nothing was visible from that perspective and a warm bed was more persuasive than a drive to the countryside. The flight through the A.B. was years before ubiquitous smart phones and taking pictures didn't occur to me. The lights live on in memory and that's not bad.

Takk for alt,

Al