Aurora Borealis - 10 October 2024

I'm just putting this here because it was really rather unusual and exciting. Around 10pm on Thursday 10 October 2024, the Aurora Borealis could be seen all over the UK - including Yorkshire. I saw someone's FB post about it so I went out on my balcony to look. There is a LOT of light pollution here, from the car park lights right opposite at eye level, to the abundant streetlights everywhere. I couldn't see a thing with my naked eye. Tried my phone camera but my phone is now old and doesn't have a night mode, so that wasn't very satisfactory, though I could see some reddish tones in the images. This shot was taken with my camera but I wasn't exactly sure what settings to use, and couldn't lay my hands on my tripod to steady it. (I do have one somewhere!) The upward light streaks (right) are not aurora but streaks from streetlights or floodlights. 

Having seen 'dancing' auroras for the first time in Iceland, which was so exciting and emotional, I haven't been bothered to hunt auroras in the UK, though due to the sun's cycle, they have been much more common this year; there have been two or three very strong magnetic storms. It was a freezing cold night and I wasn't inclined to drive anywhere to see if I could see this 'showing' more clearly in an area of less light pollution. Some people have posted amazing photos, many taken when the activity flared up again more strongly, with pillars, sometime after midnight. 

Still, not something I ever expected to be able to see from my new flat's balcony!

Room with a view

I'm not sure it's right to put these on my main blog but I was playing with the view from the window at my daughter's. Just a phone shot on a wet day - something about the balance of the three vertical elements that appelaed to me - and that mill chimney in the background. 

On the cusp

I like these words. They seem very appropriate as I wait on the edge of moving house: an end and a beginning, which I’m really looking forward to. 

I’m very impatient for the legal processes to complete but I can’t do anything to speed it up. Still praying it will all work out. 

Where my pig is headed

they tried to persuade me not to cross

the curious hills; finally, shrugging

called me foolish, stubborn.

that’s how it is, I said, I’m going    

where my pig is headed. 

(Found this among my mementoes... not sure how long I've had it but it is many years.  It still has a resonance for to me. Probably sums me up quite well!)

Trust my timing

This has a special meaning for me right now. After Christmas, perhaps because I was just recovering from Covid, I started to feel that I should prepare to move house, to downsize to a flat that would be future-proof, or as much so as any place can be. This came unexpectedly. I'd often thought that 'one day' I'd do this, but then lately I'd been thinking that flats were not a good investment and I'd be better staying put in this house (where I've been for nearly 25 very happy years) and making sure I was fit enough to manage it. The sense strongly came that I should start to declutter, to get rid of all the things I've accumulated that I really didn't need - and once I started it was surprisingly easy.  The hardest bit isn't deciding what should go but, once decided, getting it out of the house to the charity shop or the tip or wherever. I've more or less completed that stage now. I've been praying to be guided to the right place at the right time, and sensing and trying to be obedient to the promptings - viewing a couple of flats when they came up, putting my name on the waiting list for a complex I like, getting the details of my house logged with an estate agent ready to 'go' when I wanted to sell. Various avenues for various reasons proved to be not the right direction.  Then a couple of weeks ago I was contacted by the site manager via the waiting list to say a flat had come up there. I viewed it, it feels right, I've made an offer. I've put my house up for sale, I've had viewings and offers this week.... but until my offer on the flat is confirmed I can't do anything - and I've not yet heard the results of the most recent viewings either. I'm champing at the bit but I can't do a thing to progress it; it's all in the hands of others right now... and firmly in God's hands, I believe. I've really sought to be patient, obedient and discerning. I'm sure God is saying: 'I've heard your prayers, now trust me.' I'm really trying to. 

Artistic talent

I spent a happy afternoon recently at The Hepworth, Wakefield with my daughter and two grandgirls. The gallery is very welcoming to children, providing packs of paper and pastel crayons so they can sketch and draw. The girls spent a long time happily ensconced in one of the huge window bays, sketching scenes inspired by the foaming waters of the River Calder below, as it tumbles over a weir. It was a very hot day so eventually we adjourned to the café for drinks and cake. Elodie (11) continued her sketching at the café table, producing this picture of the little flower arrangement on the table. 

I was really impressed at how observant she'd been, capturing not only the graceful arrangement but adding her own touches. The vase was white, not red for a start, but in the picture red tones in with the rusty foliage. There's a confidence, freedom and lyricism to the drawing that I really like. It's taken pride of place on my kitchen noticeboard for now but I wanted to 'immortalise' it here too. 

 

Weir-d

Playing around with layers to create an impressionistic effect. I'm never sure whether these 'work' or not. Is it just blurry? I think some subjects perhaps work better than others for this technique and perhaps this is a near miss.