Lights and Colors

Reason(s) why I love the UP, numbers 906.....and 906 :)

Last night, a friend posted on Facebook that the Aurora Borealis was currently visible where she lives along the Lake Superior shoreline.

I love the shorthand that people use here to describe in little words something as awe-inspiring as the Aurora.  Like when they talk about "the big lake"  to describe Lake Superior.  If you don't get why that is funny in a subtly ironic way, please come visit.

So anyway, most people will also just say "The lights are out."

I have a routine when I hear this code-like sentence.  I go into my bathroom, make sure the lights are off, and pull up the mini-blinds over the big window so oddly placed behind and over the toilet (it was a strange remodeling choice somewhere in the house's 60 year history).   I guess if you're a guy, it makes more sense to have a window there.  To me it usually means cold air on my neck if that window is open, and a lack of privacy that always ensures those blinds are closed.  Unless there are "lights."  Sorry if me describing my bathroom layout and saying the word "toilet" borders on TMI for you.  I am often the queen of TMI.

So, usually I have to stand there for some long minutes as my eyes get accustomed to the dark, to see a faint foggy white glow along the northern horizon.  Looks a little like it would if there was a small town just over the horizon.  Cool thing is, if you look on the map, straight north of my house, there is nothing like that at all.  Looking to the north, the average population density from my bathroom window all the way to Lake Superior is 4.6.  That's folks per square mile.  Love it love it love it.  Hermit love.  Sooo...not exactly any light pollution problems to speak of.

(light pollution maps)

check out the corner of  N. Paynesville and 2 Mile...not exactly polluted

especially when compared to this (I am at the edge of the Bruce Crossing glow)

or this...I am at the base of the Keweenaw Peninsula, in the dark

Anyway.

 Last night I went into my bathroom, wrestled a moment with an ancient mini-blind that I should replace (along with the mis-matched or just totally absent trim around the window of the probably 1980's remuddling job), and WAAAAHHHHH (the sound you make when something magically appears, the whole city of Chicago (or maybe more like Marquette, or maybe just Houghton/Hancock) appeared to be residing just beyond my horizon, in terms of light pollution in the sky. Even with my not-used-to-the-dark eyeballs, I could see this instantly.

I almost literally grabbed Bob and threw him in the car so we could drive north on North Paynesville Road, until we reached the flat cow pastures area near Two Mile Road (you know where that is).  We turned out the lights and it was, literally, our best experience with the lights since we decided to make our lives in the north woods 2 years and 3 months, and thirteen days ago (Yay!).

I'm sorry we don't have pics.  At least decent ones.  My go-to camera doesn't permit me a slow enough shutter speed to capture the aurora. I do have a cheesy iPhone app which slows the shutter enough to capture a grainy green I-hope-you-can-imagine-the-rest type shot of the awesome sky show.  Without a tripod, I was either resting my phone on the car door, hence the car antenna,

yes, I know this pic is awful

just trying to prove I was there

or on the dash, hence the park sticker.

I know, but the dipper is nice

 But maybe, I hope, you can get the idea. Because Aurora was dancing, in pillars and flashes and feathery patterns up about as far as the Big Dipper.  It was a breath-taking and short show, before it died down to a bit of glow in the northern sky. At the end, I clapped. For God.  Thank you.

I have so many things to be thankful for.

Another strikingly beautiful symbol of this miraculous land that I call my home is THIS:

These are Jordan's shots. 

Colors

Another shorthand phrase I hear a lot at my shop these days is "We came up for the colors," meaning the people who are vacationing in the UP from downstate, or other states (I saw folks from Texas and Alabama this week) to see the autumn leaves. Several weeks ago, there were a lot of little maple trees that started to get fired up for autumn.

 It looked like the beginning of the big show, but that turned out not to be the case.  Instead we got some almost record temps for many days in a row, which seemed to put a stop to the beginning of fall.  People who traveled north early for the colors were probably disappointed, and people started saying it would be a disappointing show this year.

No way.

Because if you rode to and from work like me the last few days, with your wonderful hubby, and even if you were snoozing because you are not a morning person, and only opened your eyes during one little part of the drive, as long as it was THIS part, you would pretty much see all of the autumn colors there are just in like 4 or 5 trees.

I love this spot, and have now photographed these same 4 or 5 trees for three years straight.  They never disappoint.  Amazing.  More clapping for God.

Not to mention the beauty of this spot that I pass by every day and every day.

One more really amazing thing about living in this land of lakes and forests is this.  Look at this.

This is a TRAFFIC JAM on the Ontonagon bridge that I experienced while I was photographing the 4 or 5 trees.

There it is.

See it?

Yep.

Three cars.  It seemed like a lot when I was taking pics. But that is about as busy as my commute ever gets.  Love love love.

I know there are people who thrive in the big city.  Nose to nose traffic....piece of cake. Lights, traffic, crowds. ARRRGGGHHHHHH (the noise you make when you lose your mind, just a little)!!!! Even though I don't get it, it's okay for you to love it.  Stay there.  And I will stay here. And please, be happy with where you are.

I am.

More clapping.

Thank you!

Amen.

Subtle Reminder

I know.

God is good.

Every day and every day and every day.

If I am tempted to forget, God reminds me.  I think God sent this season of colors just for me (and you, too, don't worry).  And birds, too. Those little wonders that take the time to migrate right through my front yard.

Just in case you might be a little forgetful too, just look....

I can't help but imagine God whispering in the (ear?) of this little tree, telling it to remember to count the green leafy days and then, do THIS:

Or along the same lines of color, tell the tiny feathers of this little finch to start turning raspberry
sauce red, so he can attract the best girlfriend ever...

 

And what girlfriend could resist electric blue and rusty orange?

 

Or a color that I think in this case should be called "greedy blue"?

 Of course, there's always the simple yet elegant black and white racing stripe look,

Which even looks snazzy in the rain.

Of course, some folk are more safe in colors that blend in.

Random cute boy pic (never blending in...in a good way).

Turkeys can't blend in even if they want to on a frosty morning like today;

And I will let you guess if anything is trying to blend in here.

Like I said, subtle...

Or not....

So NOT subtle

I guess he's really not so subtle, either.

Thank you for reminding me.

Amen

Just Keep Being You

forget-me-nots

I was starting to think that I'm the only one who feels this way.  But I happened to catch a few minutes of "Ellen" yesterday and I noticed that she did exactly what I've been wanting to do ever since the horror of Las Vegas happened.  She spent the first half hour of the show with clips of previous shows highlighting the good things that people do.

And I just want to say this:

Just because this happened, doesn't mean that YOU are not a good person.  Just because a man, for whatever reason, performed this horrific act which killed so many and injured so very many more, doesn't mean that you should lose hope, find yourself lost in what you think is an evil world.

Because it's not.  Every day and every day and every day, the vast majority of people get up, kiss their spouses, hug and care for their little ones, worry about and love from afar those children or grandparents or friends who can't be with them for whatever reason. They go to work and do a good job because they know it's the right thing to do, if only to earn money to care for those they care for.  During the day, they smile at the barista who makes their coffee, or the Walmart checkout person, or their students, bosses or coworkers, and they say "Please," and "Thank you," and "Bless you," and even "Have a nice day," even if they themselves don't feel like it's a particularly nice day.  Even if it's a really really bad day and you don't feel like any of those social niceties, it still doesn't mean that you are a bad person and that you live in an evil world.

See, I think we are all just one tiny step away from doing something SO good for another person that it can change his or her life forever. I know that many, many people were saved through the actions of others in Las Vegas. But sometimes that defining moment of good can happen in a way that seems so small, even trivial, and yet is life-saving and life-affirming in a HUGE way.  When I lived in Iowa, and nearer to the world of fast food and drive-through-everything, instead of in the land where my cell phone tells me every day that my compute along an almost deserted stretch of highway will be "quick," with "light traffic,"  Bob and I would go through the McDonald's drive-thru for breakfast and pay for the folks in the car behind us.  Not so we could see their faces when they found out their breakfast was on us (although that moment was priceless when we happened to catch it), but because maybe that person, for whatever reason was being bombarded with that false narrative that he or she could not possibly be a good person, and that the world could not possibly be a good place.

I can't do anything about that shooter.  Neither can you. He was a monster, true evil, but also a true aberration.  There are others like him in the world....always too many, but I am not one.  Neither are the vast,vast majority of people...like you.

Kiss your spouse. Your kids and your dogs, too.  Tell them you love them.  Remind them often. Be kind to the guy driving too slow on the way to work. Tell your mail carrier he or she is doing a good job. Thank a veteran or a police officer for their service. Smile at everyone, just because you can. Then maybe find a way to add just a little more to the good in the world.  Tape a five dollar bill and a smiley face sticky note to the gas pump you just used. Pick up some litter. Remember to thank everyone who does anything for you. Add an extra "something" to a product you make or a service that you provide for someone else. And then don't look in the rear view mirror to see the reaction to your deed. Because you will never truly know the good you have done. Not in this life.

Don't lose hope.  Stop believing everything you hear on the news....for sure.  Look away from evil and see the good, every day and every day.

And don't forget to kiss your spouse....and your dog.  Unless they are already kissing each other....