Scintillating Sky.

Gone are the unrestricted views I once had at my disposition in the white house on the hill. I still recollect fondly the captivating light shows that from spring to autumn played out in front of my windows.

These days, wide planes surround my home and our house is nestled between others, hidden from view, lacking it as well.
However, despite these limitations - and to my surprise - the obstructed horizon can nevertheless offer subtle demonstrations of natural splendor.
Just like the other evening, when twilight enveloped our surroundings and the final rays of the setting sun illuminated the three dimensional clouds.

Camera in hand, I walked around the house, capturing the scintillating spring sky in every cardinal direction, reveling in this early "white night" sneak preview...

Beautiful sights indeed always await those who take the time to notice.

Midnight Twilligt Finale.

The eighth of August officially marks the conclusion of our white nights. This means sadly that the second season is closing towards its end.
Yet, as we enter the summer finale, I am also entering the last weeks of my solitude. In less than a month, I will once again rest in the arms of the man I love, welcoming him home. I look forward to this time with excitement, longing and anticipation.

I have neglected to update this online diary as of lately and have graced this page with my absence. It is all unintentional - the will is there and my draft folder is full of reflective writing complimented by stunning photography. Yet I have simply not been able to find the time to share it all with you.
The reason might be that my move North has been a very successful move in every possible way. I have found not just true love and happiness here, but also a new family and new friends - all of these have added purpose and content to my days, drawing my attention and time elsewhere in a very welcomed way.
Thus despite my solitude, I have not really been alone - nor bored.

The only day of the week that allows me to spend my time here undisturbed is on a Friday morning. Immersed in the silence of a newborn day, I currently enjoy sitting outside with a cup of fresh brewed coffee, savoring the warmth of a late summer sun on my face, watching its rays reflected in our dew covered lawn. The sunshine carries with it a promise of a new, beautiful day, when anything can unfold and anything is possible.
These are those perfect moments in time that reinforce the allure of just being alive.

Nature and its endless enchantment and beauty is responsible for the best memories I carry within my recollection. Just like the photography below.
These images are my farewell tribute to the summer sun, as it now slowly accelerates its departure from our views. Captured one evening this July, from a house on a small picturesque island in the Swedish archipelago, they allowed me to marvel over a stunning sunset as it unfolded in my view for over ninety minutes, ending shortly before midnight.
Until next year.

(Note: The photographs below are taken in Sweden last month.
However the images throughout the post are taken in the proximity of our home last week, as I enjoyed an evening stroll along the North Sea with good friends.) 

Northern Night Skies.

I recently complained about the lack of alluring views. Those that I used to marveled over in my former home. While this fact still remains, I have also realized that if I only take the time to look, stunning light shows still take place right above me.

Last week, as I opened our bedroom window close to midnight, I could glimpse beautifully painted heavens to my left. Stepping out into our garden illuminated by the twilight of a white night, I could see purple clouds moving across a scintillated sky. The traces of a late summer sunset lingered across the north, reflecting the sun which moved just below the horizon on its way to the east, in order to rise in just a few hours.

I stood there in the stillness of the colourful night and felt deeply sentimental, as I got enveloped in bittersweet remembrance of what once was, while fully aware of the magic I was witnessing right then and there and simultaneously exhilarated about the endless possibilities of what is yet to come...

Midsummer Night.

We have crossed yet another seasonal threshold.
The day of the Summer Solstice is such an enchanting occurrence and yet it also instigates a gentle melancholy in me.

June is signified by the duality of Gemini and thus the first summer day reflects too a joy and simultaneously a sadness. A pinnacle of light has been reached – even though summer is only beginning; the sun now embarks onto a reverse journey away from us, shortening our daylight by each passing week...

Ever since my move north a year ago, I rarely thought about the stunning vistas at the white house - yet I do so very much currently and I truly miss them...
Gone is the unrestricted view of the horizon, the mesmerizing late night sunsets, which set the heaven on fire, the beauty of the illuminated midnight sky and the enticing glow of noctilucent clouds - these light shows played out in front of my windows almost every day through out the summer - year after year, never to loose their allure.

Our low lying house has no extraordinary views to speak off. The only sign telling me we are indeed amidst the time of the white nights are our solar lamps and lanterns, decorating the shielded patio and glowing silently yet persistently in the dusk that has replaced the nights.

And yet, stepping out into our garden in the stillness of the midnight twilight, I can nevertheless trace the silvery sky beyond the treetops and gaze mesmerized at the starless heavens above me as we cross into the small hours of the morning. Unmistakably, the air holds an aura of enchantment and one can easily fall for the magic of the Midsummer Night, when secret portals are open and the esoteric lurks in the shadows.

Festival Of Light.

Once again, our evening sky becomes lit up as a silver hue settles across the heavens upon sunset. We commence the time of white nights here in the cold North and the countdown to midnight sun has begun, even though my position is in the southern most Scandinavia, where the midnight sun is used as a symbolical term only.

Still, our day has gained almost nine hours since winter solstice and the time of dusk is now stretched to comprise one hour short of midnight and is only growing. In a month the night will truly be white, or light as we say here.

I love this time of the year and it is now that my heart experiences a bittersweet longing for the views I once had at my disposal at the white house on the hill. Every day, with the onset in May, offered spectacular sunset skies and an endless twilight horizon. Today all I see are treetops and red roofs.
However, that is life - we gain some and we loose some. I have gained on so many other levels, that this is sacrifice I gladly take.

On our recent drive home from one of the Danish islands, after visiting my husbands family, we experience beautiful views of a late sunset as it unraveled over the sea, before we embarked on a ferry to take us home. Later we watched the silver skies accompany us home all the way through to the other side of midnight.
It made me realize that even though I do not get to see the stunning views on regular bases, the few times I get the privilege to see them makes the experience even more precious and enchanting.

Accession To Midnight Sun.

In about twenty days, we will reach the enticing Summer Solstice. The time when daylight rules our world and the midnight sun colours the heavens.
Thus the month of May and June comprises my absolute favorite time of the year, one that is defined by light. Additionally, it is signified by almost daily sunsets that take my breath away, combined with stunning views of the evening sky.

I will never ever get tired of my late spring - early summer vistas, as I watch - almost daily - when the fiery disc meets the horizon in a covert kiss, colouring it by plethora of fiery brushstrokes, causing it to blush upon this romantic encounter. As the sun vanishes beneath the dark silhouette of the Earth, the heavens turn slowly orange and then purple. Shortly after midnight they gain the hue of silver blue - however never ebony.
The sun is absent for only a portion of the night, yet its imminent presence can clearly be felt throughout the time of twilight, until it reappears in the small hours of the morning, submerging my world in a rosy sunrise.

This is the culmination of the white nights, a countdown to midnight sun. A time of magic and enchantment here in Scandinavia.
Yet, no matter the culture or location, the sun has been worshiped by humans all across our world for millennia - ever since the primitive man recognized its vital potential.
The allure of the golden star continues to mesmerize us even today and will in the future, despite the progress and technology which rule and explain our reality. Humanity will endlessly maintain a strong urge to hold onto that which is beyond our control and beyond any clarification, that which entices us and keeps us standing back in awe.

(Below a selection of May sunsets and evening/early night skies, as seen from my windows. Please click each image for larger view.)

Return To Light.

As we enter the fifth month, we also return to the time of light. The fifth day in the fifth month is perpetually special in my perception, as it is signifies the commencement of the White Nights in Scandinavia.

If I ever would leave the cold North, the light of the summer nights is what I will miss the most. The magic of the endless sunsets never seizes to captivate me, reinforcing my belief in the importance of the sun and the enchantment of the seasonal changes.

Below is a selection of our recent evening skies, depicting the celestial shows that once again take place in my views, making me marvel over natural wonders - and helping me heal as I slowly return to light within as well...

Farewell To White Nights...

Sadly, the illumination of the Scandinavian summer night sky is ending. The 7th of August marks the last day of the so called Light Nights and in its turn the end of the most beautiful period in the annual cycle of the North.

From now on, our skies will grow darker by each passing day. Already, the night has stolen two hours away from the daylight and compared to June, our sunrises and sunsets occur one hour later. This shift will increase exponentially and before long - twilight will rule my world once more.

There is a certain melancholy that fills my heart as I make my peace with the notion, that summer is closing towards its end. Warm days will still follow for a few weeks more, but warm nights and evenings will begin to subside drastically. The sun is turning slowly golden and my surroundings grow dark green, as the seed-bearing parachutes of dandelions and thistles fill the air. The late summer sunsets are now traveling back from northwest towards the west, where the setting disc will soon meet this cardinal direction around the fall equinox.

This is the beginning of the end of my love affair with Mr. Summer. Every year, as we say farewell to White Nights, I know he is slowly preparing for his departure.

Noctilucent Clouds.

During the summer months in Scandinavia, a very peculiar phenomenon can be observed at times in the night sky. If the conditions are right, the twilight heavens are illuminated by light, shining clouds. Such was the occasion this past week. As I was getting ready to turn in for the night, closing the living room window, a sight of pearlescence in the sky - resembling platinum glowing waves - greeted me.

Called Noctilucent Clouds, these consist of ice crystals and are the highest known clouds in the atmosphere. Positioned in the mesosphere at altitudes of around 76 to 85 kilometers - literally at the edge of space - they are not fully understood and are a recently discovered meteorological phenomenon; there is no evidence that they were observed before 1885.

Noctilucent clouds can be seen by observers at a latitude of 50 to 65 degrees and seldom at lower latitudes. Occurring during summer, from mid-May to mid-August in the northern hemisphere and between mid-November and mid-February in the southern hemisphere, they are very faint and tenuous, and can only be spotted in twilight at sunrise or sunset in the north cardinal direction. At this time the clouds of the lower atmosphere are in shadow and the noctilucent clouds are illuminated by the sun.

This was my second sighting, much better then the one I observed last June, particularly as the position of the clouds occurred in my immediate view to the north-northwest, on the still sunset coloured night sky.

To those who found this subject intriguing; please visit this audio slideshow on BBC page.

(Please click the image below for a larger view)

The Treshold Of Light...

... or "My Ode To June Sunsets".

Today's summer solstice marks the culmination of our Scandinavian white nights. It feels like it was just yesterday the longest night was upon us, which meant the onset of the best part of the year; alas now we are heading in the opposite direction. Even though light evenings will be granting us their stunning presence until the beginning of August, the end of June marks the end of a certain magical period that always seems to be gone before it even begun.

White nights fill me with an endless feeling of awe and astonishment. They bring so much enchantment to my surroundings, lifting my spirits and reinforcing my belief in the mysterious. No wonder that already the ancient man built neolithic monuments to celebrate the event of the solstices.

Each evening, the June sun bestows upon us sunset shows that take my breath away.
As the golden disk moves slowly towards the skyline almost twenty hours after it has risen, it turns into a large, fiery globe, instigating moments of great anticipation. Its shape seems to float above the Earth, as if guided by an unseen hand until it meets the horizon in a covert kiss, upon which it spills across the sky like molten steel. Moving slowly out of sight, while colouring our northwestern skies blood red at midnight, the sun only disappears out of view for a short while, never really vanishing, leaving behind strokes of rainbow shades. Simultaneously, the northeast is already the colour of silver. As we move into the small hours of the morning, the imminent sunrise alters the silver sky first into platinum and then the colour of rose gold. In the stillness of the night, day breaks with all its splendor. The golden disk reappears from its short slumber, casting a violet glow across a dewy landscape. And the bird song begins.

Rising almost five hours earlier then in winter, the midnight sun adds about eleven hours more light to our summer days. As we cross the threshold of light, I will try to savour every moment of the longest day and disregard the sharp sting of melancholy, that its departure always instigates in the very core of my being...

The below is a series of photographs taken from my windows during a dramatic sunset two days prior to the summer solstice. As the night progressed, the skies became clear and the splendor of a stunning white night a reality.
Please click the images for a larger view.

Colourful Midnight.

I have learned a new word recently: skiving. Or to be a skiver (aka slacker). And that is exactly what I have been this weekend. A blog skiver. I simply could not get myself to do any writing (or visiting for that matter) at all. I had no ideas nor any profound thoughts were filling my mind and I spend my Sunday sorting out clothes and watching old movies.
Thus today my post is short and unsubstantial. And so boring, as I am again posting pictures of night sky that most of you are certainly fed up with by now.

But I simply can not help myself.
June is the time of our white nights and as we approach the summer solstice in about ten days, their culmination is imminent. I simply have to pause every single night, as I gaze towards the north west skies, that shimmer full of light above the city below. The midnight sun has arrived and will stay around for a couple more weeks.

While the white nights were somewhat absent last week, due to heavy clouds and fog, yesterday, as the cloud cover finally lifted, the sky revealed the night sky in all the magnificent colours of a fiery midnight sunset. And as you can see below, what a difference ten days can make.