Today's is another mail celebrating our awesome natural world.

In Scarborough we are lucky enough to be far enough north to have opportunities to see the aurora or northern lights. We have a what's app group where our local expert lets us know if the solar statistics and local weather look lined up for a potential viewing. Most often, at our location, the aurora is only visible through a camera body ( don't ask me about the physics!) rather than to the naked eye. But occasionally it is strong enough to be visible to the eye in northern skies away from light pollution. Once I had the privilege of seeing the northern lights in Iceland where the whole sky was a dancing colour display - no camera needed! Completely phenomenal.

Now it is sgetting dark earlier, there is a chance of the aurora being visible before my bed-time! One such occasion happened recently. People started reporting it was a strong showing on a very clear night. We often have cloud cover. Even though I had had a busy day and was quite tired, I decided to take the opportunity of clear skies and head out. The 'displays' can last anything from a few minutes to hours, and ebb and flow in strength so any sighting is a gift.

We are lucky here. In easy reach, we have a car park by the sea pointing north and away from the main town lights. Before I left home, I reminded myself of what settings I would need on my phone camera to try and capture an image. It's not easy! And what we see with the naked eye here in Scarborough is nothing like the colours revealed in a (competent!) camera image. But sometimes a faint green or pink or white glow can be seen as bands in the northern part of the sky. And this in itself can be very exciting.

So off I went, wrapped up in multiple layers to stay warm. I picked up a friend en route, hoping to make their evening. We arrived at the car park not knowing if the aurora was still showing. It always takes the eyes a few minutes to adjust. At first I couldn't make out anything. But my camera could! There were pinks and greens showing in the sky! And after a short while I could make out a big band of very soft green with my naked eye. And I managed to capture a picture which showed the band was a striking bright green with surrounding pinks! Really wonderful. Nothing like the awesome images the experienced photographers were getting, but nevertheless very satisfying to me. My friend and I went home happy and grateful that we had cajoled ourselves out into the dark cold night and seen this amazing phenomena of the night skies. What a blessing we could do this.

This week's self-kindness invitation is to notice when windows of opportunity present themselves to you... and to maybe take them when you can and let go gently when you can't. Self-kindness in action.

Go well.

In warmth and kindness

Barbara