Pretty crockery, Space & the Northern Lights

Have you heard of the Danish shop Falby? You can find it here. Today I walked to university, in the sunshine, to meet the lady who is helping me not to be sad anymore. After my meeting I went to the little book shop on campus. They sell a lot of stationary and books and things, but also a lot of pretty things for the home. I bought this little cup to drink my coffee from during my long afternoons of writing to you all. It's nice to have pretty things :) 

We have been lucky to have some sunny days, after all of the snow that fell last week. The sky is also wonderfully clear, which means cozy nights of taking my lemony-tea to the little woodland area behind my flat and searching for planets and constellations.

 Joe Richardson (visit him here) wrote a lovely comment yesterday, asking me whether I had seen the Northern Lights before. The answer is yes, sort of. At the moment there has been some special 'solar events' which means that we have a higher chance of seeing the Northern Lights. (You can actually check the Aurora forecast here, if you like). 

Whenever we hear about there being higher auroral activity, we get so excited! We take some warm drinks, our big cozy jackets and trek out in the snow in search of a dark, sheltered place, away from any source of light pollution, in order to have the best chances of seeing them. I have only seen them once since I've been here, since Oslo is a bit too far south. Since they are low on the horizon here, they can be difficult to spot. Last November we heard that the activity was high so we went and found a little dark area behind our flat and crouched down behind a fence (to block out the street-lights). After gazing into the sky for a few moments, we noticed a thick streak of feint green lining the horizon and watched as it slowly brightened and darkened, almost as if the sky was breathing. Despite it being pale and feint, it was still very beautiful. One of my ultimate dreams is to go and watch the Northern Lights from further north in Scandinavia. I would like to see the pink ones! 

Have any of you ever seen the Northern Lights? Were they as beautiful as you had imagined? 

(pictures lovingly taken from here, here, here & here)

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