The first autumn after moving to this island, I awoke in the middle of the night
to a strange crackling sound. I jumped out of bed immediately, thinking something must be
definitely amiss - or worse, alight - only to find what was actually happening
was an extraordinary light show, outside, at the bottom of the property ...
the aurora borealis was making an appearance.
While I stood in awe shivering in the dewy grass that night, with nothing around me but
flannel pj's and a North Face jacket, I silently crossed this event off my
Life List. When three owls began to call, each from a different direction
(and I remember exactly: west, north & south) how entirely normal it seemed
for that kind of evening, standing alone in the dark watching such a symphony.
Why shouldn't there be owls singing to each other?
It's been nine years now and neither of these events have repeated in quite this way ...
or I should say, I was not there if they did. As for the crackling, I've never found a definite answer
Rainbows, on the other hand, are not quite so hard to come by and I've seen many of them
during my time on this land. Still, I always stop, watch, admire ...
Rain was pouring down when I took these shots (raindrops on my lens),
yet the light was magic as it usually is when these occur.
What I hadn't seen before was an arc like this across the entire garden. I kept backing up
to fit everything in the frame and almost backed myself into the pond.
Those two wearing fur coats could care less about the downpour, while I irreverently
wiped off my lens with my jacket sleeve then shielded the front elements with an extended arm,
all the while proceeding to get fairly soaked myself.
After ten minutes or so and followed by some dramatic cloud movements, there it was ...
But I was out of lens width
and I was definitely out of backing-up room,
so you will just have to use your imagination, and perhaps trust me a little,
to know there were two complete arcs over the garden.
And this was a first since moving onto this land.
