Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba

On Saturday night, Ev and I enjoyed a long evening of fire-pit fellowship with her daughter Jennifer and son-in-law Derek… and in spite of a shockingly bright (almost full-moon) sky, watching shooting stars and dancing Aurora Borealis. Ev’s grandsons Sam and Jayden meanwhile spent hours playing moonlight soccer, and gleefully staged stealth-attacks on the fireside grown-ups (the hundreds of too-bitter-to-eat pears falling from her tree offered an unlimited supply of ammo).

Unbeknownst to me, my outstanding photographer friend Mike Grandmaison was at the same time capturing images of the Northern Lights at Matlock, just a few clicks south along the lake… shown above is one of the images he’s just shared with me.

Our First Nation peoples thought of Aurora Borealis as a manifestation of deceased ancestors; ancient Norsemen envisioned warlike virgins on horses armed with helmets, swords, and spears; and though I know the phenomena is caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere, I like to think of the Northern Lights as waves of experiential unction sent to us as a gift of metaphysical affirmation.