Aurora and No DIG

I've waited all my life it seems to see the Aurora. I've toyed for 30 years  with taking the Hurtigruten  transport to the north of Norway. It  doesn't guarantee the Northern Lights will perform and I am the mistress of procrastination . 

Many years ago , when Bill Bryson was newly on the literary stage , I was enthralled with his book Neither here nor there, published in 1991. His words have informed my search for the Aurora.

On my sixteenth day  in Hammerfest , it happened. I was returning from the headland after my morning walk and in an empty piece of sky above the the town there appeared translucent  cloud of many colours, pinks and greens and blues and pale purples.  It glimmered and seemed to swirl. Slowly it stretched across the sky.  It had an oddly oily quality about it, like the rainbows you see in a pool of petrol.  I stood transfixed.

For many years I've been able to take a picture as soon as something interesting needs recording, most of us are swelling the clouds second by second with the unnecessary jpegs of our lives. I thought once that it wont be long before we will be able to record everything , yes every thing we have seen, if a minute  automatic camera gadget was fixed to our face. We would get up , clean our teeth and at the same time recharge our gadget. Some folk already send so many photos to Instagram and vids to TikTok that I despair. Altruism is usually not the objective , but Egoism and the desire for status and monetary gain. I tick the Egoism box myself as a write this blog. I want to leave my mark , I want my children to read what I'm really like . I want to leave a footprint for posterity but not notoriety.  Bill Bryson left me a huge mark . For 30 years I've known that I could not stand at the end of Queen street for 16 days in the hope a seeing the Northern Lights. My app has been active with possibility for the last few days, I know that they have been seen form Carr Naze and Scarborough.  BUT now I am unable to respond to those wonderful yellow bars of possibility.

I'm more or less cottage bound  at present. I get out when I know beloved is safe or someone , mostly my lovely daughter is sitting with him. My other  priority is my allotment. I will have to give it up if I cant keep it ticking over, so I'm giving myself until the backend to see if my NO DIG method and copious use of straw and mulch  has silenced the march of the unwanted 

Horsetails and Twitching grass. They both shout at me the minute I arrive at my plot paradise.

My meadow strip is coming on beautifully, now in it 5th year and each year new species have seeded and the insect population increased. 

Hay meadow

You see I have no time to align my photos and explain anything further. Just be assured  readers I'm still around and enjoying my change of circumstances ,  especially now that beloved has discovered Talking Pictures TV channel and I have the benefit of my own little space upstairs, and know how much I can cram in to 1 hour on my plot. when the opportunity arises. AS for the Northern Lights, Im praying for the miracle that one day I'll just be looking out across the sea to the North from the loft window  and see them . 

Sweetpeas

Sugar snap peas

Squashes waiting