Those of you that remember Katie know that every spring mom took her somewhere to do a yellow flower photo-shoot. It started out as a joke, since mom’s yellow flowers aren’t all that exotic.
But it turned into a fun outing for them and mom got some really sweet photos of Katie smiling at her parks.
Well now, mom doesn’t want to give that up so guess what mom and I did last week?
I suppose that wasn’t very hard to guess, was it!
Yep, mom rushed me over to Katie’s park when the sun came out one day. She had seen lots of yellow flowers in people’s yards and she figured as long as the park staff hadn’t mowed we’d be good.
And we were!
There were sooooo many pretty yellow flowers that I could hardly decide where to sit. In fact I didn’t want to sit at all.
I mean, if you’ve got the space and time, why not run through the yellow flowers with the wind in your furs? Right? So I did.
Several times.
Mom says I’m a very good model. I say as long as she has treats I’ll be a good model.
Cause if there’s one thing that Katie taught me it’s that you only have to sit for one photograph as a time and the flow of treats should be constant. And when the treats are done, so am I.
Thanks Katie-girl. You’re the best big sister ever!
Now I have to go comfort mom because she says that after looking at these pictures she realizes that I’m growing up too fast. She says she wants to slow it all down, but I gotta tell her, there’s no slowing me down!
We have been so lucky, up here in Michigan, (and sometimes all the way down to Georgia!) to be able to see the Northern Lights quite frequently this past summer and into fall.
May 2024, somewhere in Michigan farm country.
Of course even if the lights are dancing, the weather doesn’t always cooperate. Lots of evenings the skies are obstructed with clouds and you can only dream about what might be happening up there.
May 10, 2024.
And of course you have to actually go outside to a dark place to see them. And even then you mostly can’t see them with your naked eyes, you need your phone or a camera to get a better view.
Amazing color in May.
In May there was a huge aurora storm above us and I was lucky enough to take my sister and head north to see them. We ended up on a random dirt road in front of a farmer’s house shooting the amazing lights as they danced across the sky.
More of the May experience.
Last weekend there was some evidence that a big light storm would be arriving, but night after night nothing happened. Then Wednesday night, with clouds rolling in, people in my general area were starting to post pictures they’d taken from their own yards of colorful northern lights.
I leapt out of bed, and headed to my own back yard. There were clouds, but enough open spaces that I saw this.
October 6, from my yard looking over my neighbor’s house.
It wasn’t beautiful, no special location, the lights of my neighbor’s house spread across the image. But I saw them. I saw them in my own backyard without driving across the state.
I was thrilled.
I was especially thrilled because I took that shot with my phone, and had only just learned how to use my phone at night. My regular camera had been shipped back to Nikon as a trade-in for a new version of the Z series.
Thursday of last week my new camera arrived, and coincidently notices of potential northen lights grew louder and louder as the day went on.
I tried to learn all the differences between the new camera and what I was used to using. And when it got dark I went over to Katie’s park and set up near her pond.
I was hoping for color reflected in the pond…but a layer of invasive plants covered the surface of the water.
I was not disappointed. There was a definite pink tinge to the northern sky.
It wasn’t always bright, but it was pretty and surrounded the Big Dipper.
There were obnoxious lights in the parking lot, and I lowered my tripod as low as I could to minimize the light pollution.
But mostly I just watched the sky. As my eyes adjusted I could tell the lights were there, but I couldn’t see much. Sometimes I could see a few pillars of light.
Sometimes the colors obscured the stars.
And once I turned the camera over to the east a bit, because I thought maybe something was there. But looking on the back of the camera, I didn’t see anything interesting, so I turned it back to the pond.
See that green waving at me from over there on the right?
I was wrong. There were actually green waves over there, but I didn’t see them until I processed the images days later.
I was out there from 8 until shortly after 9. I wasn’t prepared with hand warmers, or a hat or gloves. You wouldn’t have thought you’d need them, but on this clear night as the moon came up behind me, the air chilled.
The lights began to fad. I didn’t realize the green was ramping up.
By 9 I was cold and my husband and I ambled back to the car under the fading colors that still filled the sky. I went to bed and dreamed about starry nights and dancing lights. In the morning I found out that Mother Nature has a sense of humor, because she put up a magnificent light show with curtains of color that started about 10. While I was sleeping.
Yep.
In order to really see the northern lights you need to prepare, take warm clothes, bring extra batteries, some snacks, a chair and your good camera and on top of all that, hope for clear skies.
When I got home I went out back and took a picture of the moon. Because it was beautiful too.
And if all that lines up…you’re gonna see a real show!
I’m not disappointed, I was so happy to be out there at all. I’m thrilled to have had the experience and to share it with my husband.
Right overhead, in May.
But I’m secretly hoping to get one more chance this season.
Change Is Hard 