Not the Aurora Borealis

Not the Aurora Borealis by Brandy Larson The weather guy said the aurora Borealis might be visible briefly just before sunset. Thank you solar flares. At sunset I walked over to the Tenney Park breakwater to take a look. I was the only one out there as the temperature was falling fast and the wind picked up. I got out to the end of the breakwater and sat on my mittens on the ice-cold bench. I felt a little bite of cold on my thighs. It had been a long time since I watched the sunset. There was a horizontal bank of heavy clouds to the southwest but most of the horizon was clear over the big lake - Mendota. The sky very slowly faded from orange and yellow. Two muskrats swam back and forth in the few hundred yards of newly melted water diving for food. I thought of their natural waterproofing against the frigid water and how cold their feet and tails must be. They would soon be in their borrow snugly and warm. Maybe their kits had already been born. A few dozen ducks perched on the far ice calling to each other and getting settled down for the night. The north star came out and I looked to the left to see the silvery capitol dome. It looked very small. As I waited and waited, and watched I saw a broad flash of green. I'd never seen the mythical green line, marking night from day. Someone made film with that title years ago. Hey, it was St Patrick's Day. But it was not the aurora. I looked to the north where night had already arrived. No sign there. I waited a little longer and might have seen a flash of pink, that or a good imagination. I decided to head home. As I got to the bend in the breakwater I paused for a final look AND saw a shooting star - or at least a meteorite. I guess good things come to those that wait In the reflected lights of the breakwater a film of ice was forming on the still, shallower water. Yes, it's March in Wisconsin. On my walk over I'd been looking for a crocus somewhere, peeking out to announce that the first sign of spring is actually here in the northland. Maybe tomorrow.