I do not have an exotic travel-around-the-world bucket list, but I do have a bucket list or perhaps just a wish or hope list. It is small and consists of things that I think would be cool to experience, like a helicopter flight. The list also includes a hot air balloon ride, hiking the Cape Split trail and seeing the Northern Lights.
The Northern lights have appeared much more frequently in my neck of the woods so I was hopeful that I would see them soon. And I am still hoping. The sightings in my area this fall alone have given me reasons to dream. But I never seem to see them. Just a couple of months ago I saw a photo post from someone on my street, just a couple of houses down, showing the Northern Lights; but I managed to miss them. Now how I did this I have no idea because I live in a house full of large windows, many facing north and north east.
On that particular night, when it was said sightings were possible in my area, I hovered around these windows a lot. When I wasn’t hovering I was sitting close to them or standing next to one while working on a jigsaw puzzle until finally going to bed. My only answer is that I slept through them, which is possible when I am very tired. I once slept through a hurricane.
For the past two nights, people have once again been experiencing the Aurora Borealis. People from just up the road to the other end of the province have been posting their photos.
And me, I woke up to flashing green lights coming into my bedroom via the door, as my window blinds were closed. I jumped out of bed, excited because I was finally going to experience the Lights. Finally! Finally! Finally! They were coming from my office across the hall, a room where the blinds never close. So in I go, and this is what I see…
The batteries for the snow blower telling me they were discharging.
Someday, I hope I get to see the real Northern Lights.
Thank you for reading.
Photos: Northern Lights – Cindy Partridge, Nova Scotia Aurora Chasers; Video – Jenn Stone
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Omg… you won’t believe this but I had the exact same experience. Husband brought in two batteries the other day and put them in the den. Last night I went to bed early knowing I would miss the lights but too tired to care. Woke up at 2:14am to flashing green lights down the hall. Too funny!
🤣
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😂😂😂 That is hilarious! Thanks for telling me.
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One of them is still blinking but it’s not as impressive in the daylight.
😉
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Hilarious! There may be another explanation to why you didn’t see them through your windows. There may have been some light pollution, or, sometimes the aurora is not so visible to the eye, but the camera does capture it so you have to look through the lens of your phone to see it.
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I just can’t imagine all my neighbours standing at their windows looking through their phones for the lights, but then again, maybe they are a lot more dedicated than I am. My arms would get so tired.
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Hahaha, yes
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Glad you finally got to see them. I am still waiting. Just like you, everyone nearby seems to have seen them.
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But I didn’t get to see them. I saw the batteries. Same colour green though.
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I always assumed that Canada saw them all the time. Sorry to hear you are having trouble seeing them. We have had no luck, but there is a lot of light pollution round here. Plus, I am too lazy to look.
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Well I really don’t want to go too far either. If they ever show up, I will be thrilled but I don’t plan to work hard to find them.
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A well balanced attitude. And a top class anecdote. Tghe flashing batteries will be in my mind for years to come. :-)
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Had to laugh at your northern lights false alarm which woke you up! I was awoken this morning by similar – my alarm clock flashing as the power had gone down overnight due to severe flooding of the area (luckily not in the house but a man had been rescued from his van outside it). We were pretty much trapped in all day and my friend Richard was supposed to go home to the other side of the country but has had to stay on another night.
I’ve seen a few not great examples of the Northern lights here – once in the Outer Hebrides NW of Scotland – that was a pretty good display and it’s a very dark-skies area. Then once looking north from our village when they were above our local moorland crag – that was okayish. Then, this year, there were some superb displays one night and some okay ones the rest of the week following. I was sat in wondering why all these cars were going down my normally deserted lane outside the house at midnight but didn’t think to look out of the window at the sky. When I saw everyone’s photos I was pretty annoyed – especially as the rest of the week they were just a pale imitation!
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Some people over here say that the Northern Lights look better in photos. Personally I wouldn’t know.
Glad you didn’t have any flood damage at your place.
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That could well be true – I have a blogging friend who does night photography of comets and the like and he says that, often, he can’t see them or can hardly see them but the camera picks them up fine…
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I’d love to see the Northern Lights too. I’d have to be way farther north than I am. I hate the idea, though, of traveling to, let’s say Iceland, and cloudy skies end up obscuring the NL for day after day.
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Yes that often happens here as well. Parts of the country see them and we see nothing but clouds. Prior to the last couple of years, they never, in my recollection, appeared here.
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I lived in NWT for six years and got some good aurora photos while there, especially in January when – stretching it – we had 4 hours of daylight. By then the skies were clear of cloud, too. Since moving back I haven’t really seen them at all. I keep hearing about opportunities for southern views of the aurora but there’s nothing much over here. I hope you’re able to see them at some point, Jenn.
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I imagine up north would be a fabulous place to see the lights. If I don’t get a chance, I will have to spend more time with the batteries.
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Oh no! What a disappointment! I think they are very easy to sleep through because you can’t stay up all night to hope and wait. There is an app that will tell you the best time so you could set an alarm 🤞 Maggie
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I think I would be more disappointed if I woke up to an alarm in the wee hours and the lights weren’t there. Or perhaps frustrated because a good night’s sleep is on the top of my priority list. It reduces the bitchyness. Once down, I hate to be disturbed.
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Haha yes that’s true 😊
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I’ve seen them two or three times, but everyone’s photos look far more impressive than what I’ve seen. For me, they fall into the category of not as impressive as their reputation.
Hot air ballooning is popular in my wife’s hometown. I also would like to experience that.
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Yes, based on some comments, they do seem to be something that are better in photos. I won’t know for sure until I see them myself.
Might be time for you to head to your wife’s hometown and make that balloon experience happen.
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Seeing the Northern Lights in person is still on my bucket list too. I have heard that what a camera sees is much more spectacular that what can be seen with the naked eye. Dull colors are rendered bright and beautiful through the lens. Good luck to you in checking that one – and other wanna see items – off your list!
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Fingers crossed that we both get to see them someday.
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We lived in the European Arctic (near Inari) for several months over winter. We saw the Aurora Borealis nearly every day. We especially liked seeing them in different colours, mostly red and green. We can sometimes see them here in East Anglia too. But in a way that’s not the same. Usually, you see them through your camera lens only, and you don’t have these moving forms like curtains in the wind.
We keep our fingers crossed that you will see the Aurora Borealis soon. The best place in the world (statistically) and easy to reach to see them is around Tromsø.
Good luck
The Fab Four of Cley
:-) :-) :-) :-)
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Thanks. I think luck will have to play a big part in it for sure because I won’t be moving or travelling further north that I know of. It must have been a thrill to enjoy them every day. It would have been for me.
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