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Columns of Light

The Aurora Borealis lights up the night sky over Minnesota on October 1, 2013.
Photo courtesy of Scott Canfield.

A whisper in the dark: "Do you think that's it?"

After driving an hour north on Tuesday night, I pulled over on a dirt road in rural Minnesota and got out of my sedan. Matt, who came with me for the ride, followed me to a clearing in front of the car, where the pitch-black night opened up to a million stars.

It was 11 p.m., and our spontaneous pursuit of the Northern Lights landed us on a tree-speckled hilltop near the St. Croix River.

A band of faint green light formed an arch to the north. Hearing nothing but the chirp of crickets and the call of an owl, we walked slowly toward the light. Our view opened up beside a scraggly old tree, and there, we stood still.

As if the Aurora had called out to us, urging us to meet it at a specific time and place, the lights chose that very moment to launch into an awe-inspiring show. 

It began with a subtle arc bending over the northern sky. Gradually, the green arc began to move, forming columns of light to the left and to the right. Then the columns expanded, and in a matter of minutes, the lights bounced into the air above us. Before our eyes, each shade of green grew brighter, and the columns blushed into a rouge color.

As we stood there watching, the Aurora Borealis gained strength. Within 10 minutes, it climbed to the center of the night sky, where it could be seen directly overhead. That's a rare occurrence for Central Minnesota, or any locale near the 55th parallel, but Matt and I were lucky enough to witness the majesty that night. The Aurora even climbed through the center of our beloved Milky Way.

Being the nature-lover that I am, I had a tent and two lawn chairs stowed in the trunk of my car. We were so astonished by the Northern Lights, we set up the chairs and cuddled up together under a warm blanket. Without even noticing the time pass, we watched the show until nearly 2 a.m.

It looked incredible! It was truly inspiring to see such an elusive natural phenomenon in action. 

For the first time
This beautiful display of the Northern Lights touched much of the northern tier of the U.S. from the night of October 1st to the morning of October 2nd. It could be seen in Colorado, Montana, Ohio and even Missouri. It was one of the brightest displays of the season so far, and it also happened to be my first Aurora Sighting ever!

Those of you that know me know I am no scientist. I just barely made it out of Mr. Watt's high school chemistry class, let alone any college science courses. And I chose my alma mater, in part, for its measly math requirement. For the last year, however, I have made it my mission to understand the science behind the Aurora and the space weather that leads to such stunning arrays of color on Earth.

Over the last year, I've read books on outer space, watched documentaries about the sun and worked to decipher graphs relating to the magnetospheres of both the sun and the Earth.

The Northern Lights make up a phenomenon that is extremely difficult to predict. The lights originate in solar flares and other plasma flows from the sun that are not always directed toward the Earth. On top of that, they rarely dip below the 55th Parallel, and rarer still below the 45th. Often, the Aurora aren't even visible to the unaided eye. 

While studying the subject, I also soaked up every tip I could glean from the Great Lakes Aurora Hunters, an online group of like-minded Aurora enthusiasts that share their passion — as well as their individual predictions. GLAH for short, this group was immensely helpful in getting me to my first successful sighting.

Now, my score for Aurora Sightings is 1:5. Early on in my search, I learned the devastating effects of light pollution the hard way, on both sides of the Twin Cities. Later, I accidentally slept through the famous St. Patrick's Day show, despite my ideal location on Minnesota's beautiful North Shore.

I'm thankful, too, that I was able to share my first sighting with the man I love the most in this world.

An emotional encounter
I first learned that the Aurora could be seen from Minnesota after a powerful display around the world was reported on April 24, 2012, a year to the day after my twin brothers died. That's when I realized that I, myself, could see the Aurora Borealis if I was patient enough to find it.

In Eskimo folklore, the Northern Lights were said to be the spirits of our loved ones coming down to Earth to make sure we were okay. In one legend, the spirits were said to be those of children.

With respect to legend, my journey to see the Aurora Borealis has also become a spiritual one.

I have kept my love for my late 13-year-old brothers close by me throughout my search, through writing, reflection, and learning to be patient again. I have yearned to see the Aurora dance actively across the sky, and to see this world transformed into ethereal color.

Finally, I saw the Aurora!

On October 1st, following a youthful whim and a flurry of digital alerts, I journeyed out in pursuit of the Aurora Borealis. And I saw the Aurora dance!

The energy, beauty and mystery of the Aurora were a comfort to me. I thought of it like this:
Even when we lose a child, the child's love never dies.

Whispering into the gardens

The Japanese Lantern Lighting Festival is held every year
at the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory in Como Park.

Pillars across the foot bridge. Stepping stones in the garden. Candles floating on the river.

Our first lantern lighting festival was unlike any festival I have ever been to, and yet it has stayed with me, every night since August 18th.

The Marjorie McNeely Conservatory in Saint Paul, Minnesota, hosts the Japanese Lantern Lighting Festival annually in August. It is held during the three days of Obon, a Japanese holiday when ancestral spirits are said to revisit their families.

In character
By day, the event is a festive celebration of Japanese culture. The paths are lined with bonsai plants, kimonos, and characters of the written language in calligraphy ink. Japanese folk dances decorate the stage while black belts demonstrate martial arts in the lawn.

By night, the festival takes on an ethereal feel. Conversations drift to a subtle whisper, photographers get out their strongest lenses and the gardens become illuminated in lights.

Eight States

We tried a different route home from the car show in Indiana and headed north
through Michigan's Upper Peninsula, crossing the Mackinac Bridge in construction.

Summer got its way this week, with temperatures in the Twin Cities lingering in the 90's and the atmospheric conditions pushing the "Feels Like" gauge over 100 degrees. Aside from the realization that Minnesota has some of the sharpest temperature swings in the state, the week gave me an excuse to hunker down inside and get some work done.

Facing your fears

Rocky Mountain National Park, as seen from Colorado.

I don't do a lot in downtown Minneapolis, but it's a perfectly beautiful city and its distinctive neighborhoods offer a bevy of creativity and inspiration.

One of my favorite Minneapolis events is the Stone Arch Bridge Festival, a huge festival that lines the Mississippi River with art, music and antique cars every year. Matt and I went to the festival for the first time last year, and it was so large that we didn't even successfully locate the Stone Arch Bridge, which is an attraction all its own.

Aurora Chasing

Matt and I went Aurora Chasing on the night before March 17, 2013, on Lake Superior. We slept
through a powerful Aurora display, but the lake made up for it with a beautiful wintry sunrise!

It's 2 a.m. My eyes are bleary, my arms and legs tender from a lack of sleep. My dog can hardly keep her head upright, whether she is indoors or out, and my man looks once more longingly at the sky, as I do.

This is how we appear after a night of Aurora Chasing, a spell of searching the north for the Aurora Borealis to dance in the night sky. We are new at this, having only been actively seeking the Northern Lights since March of this year. Thus far, we have endured several duds, a few near misses and more than our fair share of overwhelming cloud cover. With each attempt, we grow more knowledgeable and more determined, our enthusiasm brewing hotter and longer throughout every hunt.

The Aurora, though, are a mysterious and elusive lot.

Peeling an apple in one long, curly strip

The peel of a whole apple, sitting on my cutting board as I prepared Apple Crisp tonight.

Every girl loves that scene in the movie "Sleepless in Seattle," when Tom Hank's character describes his wife to their son, Jonah.

"I'm starting to forget her," the boy says.

"She could peel an apple in one long, curly strip," the father reminds him. "The whole apple."

The departed woman in the movie is painted in such a fond, gentle and loving light. She is remembered in the way many of us should hope to be remembered — kind, wise and strong. And just like the youthful character played by Meg Ryan, every woman wants to be like her. Every woman wants to peel an apple the same way.

I could never peel an apple in one long, curly strip. The peel would always drop off after the first turn, leaving me with a cutting board full of apple bits.