[at-l] Mudbutt: A Multitude of Thanks

[Jan Leitschuh]

Muddbutt's Arctic Circle adventure continues...


"Well, tonight was an extraordinary night.............long, frigid and spectacular!
Marcello, the young man that works at the lodge,offered to take us out to a small
cabin on the edge of the frozen pond so that we could watch the lights.  We enjoyed
the brilliant green arcs from the lodge until about 11:00, before all piling into
a truck and driving into the 20 below degree evening.  
   The cabin sits on the edge of the frozen pond that I walked on yesterday and 
is truly in the middle of nowhere!  At the lodge, there is very little light or 
noise to distract from the Northern Lights viewing, but out at the cabin, there 
is absolutely none.  It is not pitch black because the stars are so bright and, 
of course, the snow reflects everything.  As a result, there is just enough ambient
light to make your way down to the water and out onto the ice.  

     There, it is absolutely still.  And so cold that it feels like the air around
you is brittle and hard, and could be cracked into pieces. 
      
     Within minutes, my feet throbbed with the cold.  My trusty hiking boots have
been doing so well in this weather, but this was getting the better of them.  We
alternated standing out on the deck of the cabin and watching the lights with ducking
inside to try and warm ourselves a bit.  I finally resigned myself to being completely
frozen and got on the with the business at hand.
    The lights are fascinating in that some times they change very gradually, and
some times they seem not to change at all.  And then there are the time that they
start really moving.  That was what I was hoping to see tonight!  :)  
     As we stood around, Marcello jumped up and ran over to the truck.  He came 
back around to the deck with a sled and proceeded to hang it out under the railing
over a steep ten foot slope that went down to the river.  "YOu are NOT",
I said.  He grinned and said, "Oh yes I am!!"  He jumped on, shoved off
and went shooting down to the pond, at which point he sailed way out onto it, cutting
a deep swath in the soft snow piled on top of the ice.  When he climbed back up,
he leaned it against the wall and said that it was there if any of us wanted to 
try it.  
   As we went back inside, I contemplated my throbbing feet and the darkness of 
the tiny wood cabin.  "Is anyone else going to sled?" I asked.  After 
a resounding chorus of "No!"s, I told them all, "How many people 
do you know that can say they have sledded across a snow-covered frozen pond at 
midnight under the Northern Lights!".  Although it was dark, I could feel them
rolling their eyes at me and smiling.  :)  What can I say? ........
      Next thing I know, I am standing on the deck trying to get the courage to 
go sailing down onto the dark pond.  I decided that I could take the safer, more
gradual route that we used to climb down to the river, and called Marcello over 
to help me.  Just getting into the sled was quite an accomplishment as he encouraged
me to curl my legs up to fit my whole body into the plastic trough.  I have on 45
layers of clothing and he wants me to curl up in a ball!!!!  Finally I wedged in
and he gave me a push.  I sailed down half way at which point I turned around backwards
before tumping over upside down into a big snow bank!!  My head was downhill, my
rear and legs pointed up to the sky and I was laughing hysterically!!  Truth be 
told, I am not sure I even made it all the way down to the water!!  :)  But man 
was it fun!!
    Everyone teased me about my lovely dismount and about the "X Games"
being held at the pond, and I decided that once was enough for that particular adventure.
:)  
    It was nearing one a.m. and most of us were warming ourselves inside when Brian
yelled at us to get outside.  We ran out and saw the most amazing thing I have ever
seen..........
     The huge band of green that had been arcing over the sky had turned into a 
giant undulating ribbon.  It moved in beautiful curving motions while the ends of
the arc erupted up in colorful flames.  If you have ever seen the Olympic rhythmic
gymnasts use a long ribbon at the end of a dowel, you can imagine the movement of
the light.  The bottom of the aurora was turing red and the sky was literally alive.
The flumes at the ends of the arc reached up into the stars and looked like stylized
drawings of fire.  
    As we stood there, thin white lines of lights arched down from above us, making
it look like we were in a giant dome with ribs coming down around us.  It may sound
grandiose to suggest that it looked like a giant cathedral but that is exactly what
it looked like.

Amazing. Spectaular.  Awesome......after I have used all those words over the most
mundane of things, they just don't apply to this.  

All I can say is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.......
   
     As the heavens swirled, I just kept thinking, "Thank you."  Thanks
to the universe for putting on the most amazing show I have ever seen, and thanks
to my parents for giving me the time off to come see it.  A million other thanks
went through my mind and I was completely filled with gratitude.  If there was ever
a time for it, this was it.

       Around two in the morning we all watched the lights fade away and deicded
to call it a night.  My feet had been throbbing from the cold for so long that I
was actually limping and all I wanted to do was get them warm.  But the rest of 
me was warm and happy, happy, happy.

Love to you all, Anna aka MudButt 

"When all is said and done here at the ending of the day, I look out on this
world and it still takes my breath away..."
"Robin's Song" Small Potatoes