Cat and mouse

Usually I would say, ‘We can have the best aurora conditions in the world, but without clear skies, that doesn’t really matter.’

Chasing the aurora sometimes often begins days in advance from the cosiest corner of a beige IKEA Söderhamn sofa. A light knitted throw, pillows, tea and too many tabs open on my laptop studying trends and forecasts kind of sounds idyllic, but it’s equally agonizing.

There is a real equilibrium here though. The broader circumstance of things being completely out of any of our control provides a strange calm and peace, but it’s my emotional attachment to the experience that makes these decisions sometimes so painstaking.

Tonight, the aurora conditions looked pretty bad and they were trending worse. The skies were clear, and if the aurora conditions would just break away even a little bit, it could be perfect. However I was beginning to lean more heavily, although still hesitantly, that we trust in a more perfect alignment of all conditions tomorrow. It left me uneasy, as these decisions always do, but I am used to that now.

So as it came time for a decision, I suggested we wait a night - despite the perfect weather.

This next day, the clear skies stayed, and the aurora conditions changed trends in perfect time. Sometimes a little game of cat and mouse works out in the most magical way.