Northern Lights

The girls and I were camped at our favorite ‘secret’ lake last week and on the last night, I made a plan to photograph the Milky Way. I went to bed at 10 with the alarm set for 2 am when the Milky Way would be stretched above the horizon. Of course, when I was awakened at 2, my body only reluctantly went outside to make sure I had the plan correct. Well, being offline for several days, I did not get the message that instead of the Milky Way, I was going to see the biggest Aurora Borealis of my life. At first I was puzzled because it was so light out and I could not see the stars but then my mind began to wake up and focus and I could see the waves of light filling the night sky, even as I looked to the south! I had no view to the north because the forest was right behind me. The waves of light seemed to come from directly above me, like a revolving kaleidoscope! And then some major waves came from the north east. I can only imagine what the view would have been beyond the trees.

Spring Scenes

A few things I saw last week.

Dark Skies

There are few places in the world where we can truly see the night sky anymore. I returned to this place in eastern Oregon knowing that I could really see and photograph the milky way, assuming the weather cooperated. And it did for two nights when it was calm and clear.

Eastern Oregon Spring

The girls and I spent a few days exploring the basalt covered landscape of eastern Oregon last week. The weather was ok, sometimes too windy and rarely was the light good for photos, except at night. We walked three to six miles everyday and the dogs got to swim at least twice each day. Sky is doing really well on her new arthritis med and nothing seems to slow Willow down. She is obsessed with the water wherever we go. We were a little early for wildflowers. I love the way that so many plants grow right out of the basalt rocks. There were bighorn sheep on the canyon walls and Chukars and Ring-necked Pheasants called relentlessly from the hillsides. I did see a couple groups of Yellow-rumped Warblers decked out in their finest spring plumage!

Beach Getaway

The whole family got out to the Washington Coast last week for some razor clam digging and beach walking. The weather was mostly unfavorable with lots of wind and rain. We did see some fabulous rainbows! I took my camera out one evening with the dogs and this is what I have to show for it.