Aurora and Falling Stars

So earlier today I was talking to my new friend Pauline, an incredible Australian woman who has been everywhere and has opened herself up to places and experiences in remarkable ways, about the disappointments of this cruise: no snow, no whales, few excursions. She has never been in snow, though she has, of course, seen it in mountains. Then mid afternoon I looked out the window and realized as we moved southward we were going by incredible mountains covered in fresh snow. I got Pauline, and we went up to the top deck, where some flakes of snow were flying about. It was wicked cold, but the mountains were incredible against the gray, then, blue, then green, then gray waves. This Norway I wanted to see. This Norway I was missing.




I took about a hundred photos and haven't yet had time to go through them. The above is indicative of the sights, but not necessarily the best image I got--just what I got on my iPad for posting here.

After some delightful coastline sights, Pauline and I had a wonderful talk, some drinks, and then Ann joined us for more great conversation and another glass of wine. Fabulous afternoon.

Dinner continued the pleasurable day, though we all hate that our dinner time is 8:30, which is way to late for any of us to eat. The moon made an appearance--the first I have seen it in this country, so I said I was going up on the top deck to look at its reflection in the water while the others went off to bed or to crochet.





WELL. Can I just say aurora f**ing borealis??!! Incredible, cold night sky. Shimmers and streaks of light shifting everywhere. The moon at a bit over 3/4, reflected light in the waves and clouds moving in and out to be defined by the moonlight. I called Pauline and texted Ann and took a zillion pix, even though I have no idea how to operate my camera to get good night shots.














Again, I haven't had a chance to edit these photos, so they still show the overexposure my camera's auto settings chose to capture the night sky, I had no tripod, and I didn't know what the f I was doing, but you get the idea it was a spectacular evening. The camera captures more of the green than I could see with my eyes unaided, but the night was spectacular in its shifting and surprising spots of shimmering light.

AND I saw 6--yes, S I X --shooting stars. I saw two in Flåm last week. And I did make wishes on every one.

A fabulous experience was this day. Oddly, I found myself quoting Sylvia Plath all day. Lines like

"stasis in darkness
then the substance less blue
pour of tor and distances"

Or
"the moon has nothing to be sad about
staring from her hood of bone"

or that bit about the "freakish Atlantic" from "Daddy."

It was, indeed, a poet's day.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad