Fragments From Floyd

I wandered outside several times last night and looked north. Nothing...

I truly hope you get to see the northern lights. I am a Canadian who just weeks ago visited the Grand Canyon. It changed my life in ways I have not had time to fully understand. (How? Before, I would not reciprocate in sharing personal experiences as with this email). In the same way I hope you get to see the northern lights for the subtle wonderful changes it may cause in you.

I was introduced to the Northern lights during my three years when I was working in the Peace River Country of northern Alberta. Utterly amazing. They were there every night, but were especially intense in winter. There were nights when they were so bright you could drive at 2am without headlights. The green shimmering curtain, the rare reds. There are other colours too, but you don’t know how to describe them because you have no other reference other then the lights themselves. It is as if you are the only person to ever have seen them in the heavens above. I know that the version seen around Vancouver was bleached out by light pollution, by the thickened southern atmosphere. I’m also sure some Alaskan or Yukoner will tell me that I've not really seen the northern lights until I've been really, really, far north. But in the end it doesn't matter where you see them.

The experience is intensely personal. I always referred to the lights as the "Shadow of God". It is as if you are witnessing God's presence. You look up at the green curtain shimmering above you. As the charged particles plunge into the atmosphere, they leave streaks behind them, so it looks as if a curtain is falling around you. However, firmly anchored as you are on the surface of the Earth, the impression is that it is you who is falling away from the lights.

It is exhilarating.

You simply cannot look at the northern lights and not come away changed in some small way. As I will now advocate people to visit the Grand Canyon, the same holds true for the northern lights. It will make you a better person. I hope you see the lights soon. You owe it to yourself.

I watched the spectacle from my front doorstep gazing up o'er lake ontario. A crisp, clear night. Weather courtesy Mother Nature. Colorful, hazy lighting... by God.

The only chance I ever had to see the northern lights was when I was staying in Williams Arizona, just south of the Grand Canyon, when they appeared unusually far south. Unfortunately the motel room looked south and we didn't know they were there...

I saw the lights once, when I was about 10, and we were on a camping trip in Ontario. Words cannot describe it. It was a particularly spectacular display, too, from what I've heard about other sightings. I have never since seen anything so beautiful and awe-inspiring...it was truly a transcendent experience.

The northern lights have been on my before-I-die list for a long time.

Road trip? ;-)

Hi Fred - I still owe Nate some chocolate chip cookies am planning on delivering soon!

Are you a Monopoly guy? Maybe you and your readers will enjoy this link. As for me, a Monopoly game is the shortest route to a spaz that I know.

http://www.tkcs-collins.com/truman/monopoly/monopoly.shtml

I fully understand your desire to share this phenomenon with your son. A second storm on a second day with a clear sky this time. I piled the spuds in the car in their jammies and drove as far out from the light pollution as we could get. (I am going to have to go on a rant about light pollution soon. It is a pet peeve of mine for more reasons than hiding the aurora.) Nothing going. But the conversation in the car was grand. I know they will be tired tomorrow but it was worth it and I will do it again!

Hey Fred...nice nice words. So true.

Except, I fondly refer to this region as the Pacific Southwest. I mean almost ALL of Canada is north of here ;-)

BTW, no auroras last night despite another big solar flare. What Biased Observer wrote here a little earlier is true. You cannot see this pectacle without coming away feeling somehow as if you've been touched by the divine.

I saw them! I saw them!
Last night Jessica called me at work and said she coule see them out in Huddleston. I said well I can't see them here in the city to much light pollution blah blah blah. She said just go look. So my coworker ran out on the registers and customers, ran in circles, and argued about which way was north. (sometimes north is hard to find in the city) There right over the carboard recycling dumpster was a pink haze. So I didn't get a relgious experience out of it since it was so muted but I saw the northen lights in Lynchburg VA. It's something anyway.

I've always wanted to see the aurora borealis
and even though I live in New England, I never have. I've always lived too close to Boston--those damn lights!!

I've put a link to your blog on my blog.

Best wishes,
Judith