Under northern skies

[shewhomust]

Flickr's AuroraWatch UK group has an amazing collection of photos of Thursday night's display: the colours in the sky are dazzling, and the photographers have worked in some beautiful (and not always easily accessible) settings. I love this shot of Sycamore Gap, less dramatic than this one of Brimham Rocks; here's Dunstanburgh and nearer to home it was also visible in Whitley Bay.

We saw nothing, although we were out at night, driving home from the Sage. Perhaps we were looking the wrong way, heading south, not north or out to sea. Or perhaps the light-burn from the motorway hid anything there might have been to see. Or, well, who knows?

We had been listening to Scottish fiddler Duncan Chisholm playing music from his Strathglass trilogy, the three-CD suite of music inspired by the three glens that make up the Clan Chisholm lands. The music was lovely, rich and mellow fiddle, supported by Matheu Watson' guitar and Jarlath Henderson's uilleann pipes and whistle (my, those uilleann pipes are a strange beast, he cradled them in his lap throughout the performance, gleaming like a steampunk octopus, even when he was playing the whistle with the other hand). I enjoyed it immensely, but I didn't feel pulled into it emotionally - I seem to be immune to the lure of the highlands.

Comments

[athenais.livejournal.com]

I am particularly jealous this year of all the Northern Lights I have missed seeing! Lovely collection of photos.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

There was a fine show that we didn't see when we were in Fife, too...

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Oooh, Northern Lights. Pretty!

Nine

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Aren't they?

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

I was finally able to show J the photos - he was bemoaning the fact that he'd watched and waited for 3 years whilst living in the North and never was able to see any lights. But he enjoyed the photos.