Beauty in the Sky

 On the night of October 10th, I was hosting book group at our house.  We were discussing, "Nothing to Envy:  Ordinary Lives in North Korea" by Barbara Demick.     Guests started trickling in around 8:00pm, then about 10 minutes later one of my friends arrived and announced that the Northern Lights were visible right then.   We all immediately traipsed out onto our back deck and were greeted with this sight, which was quite lovely, but there was that darn tree in our line of vision...

We were entranced enough that we wanted to see more, so we walked across the street together to see the view without the tree.   We all sat there ooohing and ahhing for about 10 minutes before it started to fade away.   Then we headed back in to discuss the book. 

After our  interesting discussion wrapped up a couple hours later, Glen and I decided to see if we could get away from the lights a bit and get another view.    These couple of  pictures were taken at Lambert Park-just a few minutes from our house.  

The streaks were just breathtaking!  

After that, we decided to try to get a little further from the lights for one more view and drove up to the Three Falls area, also not far from our home.   We found an overlook there with a good view looking north and were treated to this spectacular sight! 

The colors were vibrant and amazing (more so through the camera lens than with our eyes which only could sense a faint glow of reddish color in the sky) ...

and then the colors started to quickly fade, which was just as well, because it was past my bedtime by then and I was eager to get to bed!     😴

 

FAST FORWARD just a few days later to October 15th and we were treated to another glorious heavenly display when the Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS made its appearance on its once every 80,000 year rotation near earth!  

A neighbor had given us the head's up that the view from the top of Cemetery Hill was perfect for viewing it in the western sky, so that night we walked to the top, where we my Mom and Heather met us in their car...

It was a beautiful clear night and it delighted us all to be able to witness this comet with our naked eye!

Overall a great week for enjoying the stunning beauty  that God has created! 

Not Total Eclipse of the Sun

Remember 6ish years ago when we trekked to South Carolina to be in the path of totality for the solar eclipse of 2017?   That experience was kind of amazing and I've been so obsessed with the recreating that experience, that I already have plane tickets and a hotel room reserved for Austin, Texas for the full solar eclipse of April 2024. 

But somehow, even with that obsession going on,  we missed the memo that we had an annular solar eclipse right here in Utah on October 14th.  

We had too much going on (a long story I'll share soon enough) to drive the mere couple of hours to the path of totality, but we donned our eclipse glasses (which I'd also bought for April 2024) and took our normal Saturday morning walk with regular stops to check the progress of the eclipse. 

Annular means it was a "ring of fire" eclipse and it was only 80ish% here at home, but it was still enough to get the cool eclipse shadows and for it to feel dark and cold as peak time approached.  

We trekked to the local park and I literally asked anyone who passed us if they wanted to peek through my glasses.  I think more than a few people thought I was nerdy and weird, but pretty much everyone peeked anyway, so I kept embracing the nerdiness.   I also woke Spencer up and pretty much demanded that he grab some of our glasses and head outside.  Spencer definitely thought I was being obnoxious, which I probably was.  But he saw it and I felt like I did my Mom duty, so I'm calling it a win.   

All in all, a cool experience that made me extra excited for April!     Wanna meet us Austin?   Give me a ring and let's make it happen!

Fall in Utah

After 25 years of living in the East, I wasn't sure I'd ever find anything quite so lovely as a Virginia or Pennsylvania autumntime.   The humidity fades, the temperatures drop, and the bright yellows, oranges, and reds of autumn start making their appearances.   It's glorious and I look forward to it all year round.  

Coming here to Utah, I expected everything weather related to be more extreme than the East.   I expected and wasn't surprised by the super hot dry summer.   Yes, it's nice that it's not humid, but the average summer day here was still 10-20 degrees hotter than the average summer day in the East, which means that it's still not fun to spend time outside in the heat of the day.    We haven't done a winter here yet (since my BYU days), but I remember  that it stays colder and snows more regularly here.  And worst of all, apparently life doesn't stop when it snows and you still have to go places.   Now before you all go laughing at my cold wimpiness, please remember that I grew up in the great state of Minnesota and I have experienced more than my fair share of extreme cold (the likes of which we will never feel here in Utah).  However, also please remember that I have fully raised my kids in places where the world pretty much shuts down whenever it snows and  I've grown rather fond of the random excuses to stay home for a day or two scattered through the winter.  

I guess I'd never really given much thought to spring and fall here in Utah.   

BUT....it turns out that Utah autumns are pretty spectacular as well.    AND....it turns out that Adam has the same penchant for taking sky and scenery pictures that I do.   

Here is some pictorial evidence of the beauty of fall in Utah...

This fairytale scene was taken along our hike to Adam's Falls a week or two ago...

Here are a couple scenes from my walk this morning.  I was completely enchanted by the streaks of color amidst the clouds that made it look like God had gotten out His paintbrush to paint an extra bit of beauty into the day.   

Meanwhile, Adam was down at BYU taking these pictures of the sky within 10 minutes of me taking mine....

Here's another gorgeous one he took recently from near his dorm...

This scene only a few blocks from our house caught my eye the other day and had me snapping this while sitting at a stop sign....

The trailhead to Horsetail Falls isn't too far from our house, but it's all uphill, so it's a hike that gets our blood moving (in a good way).  We are totally enamored with the views on the way back down, so it's a trek we take a couple times a week.  Here are a few shots we've taken over the last few weeks...

And here are a few more from a recent hike that Adam took with friends...

So, what's the conclusion?   

It's simple actually...

Fall is officially my favorite season no matter what state I am in and being outside as much as possible in the autumntime is the way to be!   

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!   

If Your Friend Jumped Out of an Airplane...

....would you do it too?    

If you're Cami, the answer would be resounding YES!   

Don't ask me where she got the crazy idea from.  

But she and her friend, JT, got the bees in their bonnets and did it this past weekend.   It wasn't quite the way I envisioned her spending her first weekend away from her parents, but here's hoping that now that she's got that out of her system, that she keeps her feet planted firmly on solid ground from now on!   

Day 233--Morning and Night

Caramel rolls ( by Cami and AnnaLisa) for breakfast...
cool storm clouds by night.