Valentine Day broke with an unusual color palate spread across the southeastern sky. Bright coral-red clouds dominated, wispy and tenuous, like aurora borealis, against a darker blue sky. Between water and sky, lit windows were just visible as pinpricks of light.

For once, I didn’t doddle. I grabbed the camera as soon as I woke [...]

This early February dawn was well under way when I caught it. Only minutes earlier, when I first woke, a much larger display loomed outside my window. So fast did the formation move, that much of it was gone by the time I pulled myself together and grabbed my camera.

I shot the second frame [...]

I woke later than usual, and saw a tall band of bright orange-gold along the southern horizon. I went away to wash the pixie dust out of my eyes. When I came back to the window, the tall band had shrunk to the narrow, gold strip you see in the photos. I knew better; these [...]