White night

[sholio]

We have passed the point where our nights no longer get dark (we won't have dark nights again until the end of July), so I climbed to the upper deck just now to take a few pictures and show you what it looks like at midnight here. :)


How about some CREEPY GHOST TREES.


This is the side of the yard with the workshop and boiler. (Creek off to the right.)


And this side has my greenhouse and the old driveway (no longer used; now it leads to a storage area for my husband's metalworking projects and old, defunct cars, which we seem to collect for some bizarre reason).

While the camera washed things out somewhat, it's not too far wrong; the lighting is ... fairly creepy, I suppose, at this time of year, since it's not dark but the sun is below the northern horizon, so you have an omnidirectional sort of light. The sky is bright, but very pale rather than blue.

In Russian, these bright Arctic summer nights are called white nights; I always liked that.

Comments

[frayadjacent]

Wow! How about that Arctic circle. Thanks for sharing these!

[sholio]

I'm glad you liked it! Yeah ... we're a degree or two south of the actual Arctic circle, so the sun does set in the summer, but not for very long.

[rheasilvia]

Neat! It does look like a very interesting kind of light... kind of like dawn light, which is unsurprising, really.

A Norwegian friend of mine who studied in Tromso told me that it's not really very remarkable for it to never get dark (you just need heavy blinds so you can sleep well), but most Norwegians stay drunk pretty much all through the time it never gets light in winter (because that is very depressing). I dont know whether the drunk thing is accurate or exaggerated, of course...

[sholio]

heeeeee~~~, I think many Alaskans employ the same technique. :D And also the blinds.

Yeah, it's a lot like dawn light or twilight.

[mrkinch]

Cool! Thank you! Do birds sing at all hours or... I really can't imagine how else they would respond. Do you know of species nesting near you?

[sholio]

Yes, the birds do sing at night! Especially the robins and thrushes. I'm something of a bird aficionado, though we have a cat now, so our yard is a bird deathtrap -- which makes me sad, because I love having them around! We get lots of robins, juncos, different kinds of sparrows and swallows. A few years ago we had swallows nest in the attic. I've been meaning to put up some swallow nest boxes, because while the ground-nesting birds (like juncos) are highly vulnerable to feline predation (I found SIX dead juncos in the yard last summer, SIX!) the swallows never land, and therefore should be safer.

.... I don't know if you expected that much of an answer when you asked the question. Um, yeah. Just get me started on birds. XD

ETA: Having now looked around your journal a bit, I expect you don't mind me talking about birds at all. :D It's a topic I really enjoy!

[mrkinch]

No, I don't mind.:) I waited to respond until I'd checked my big Sibley for which birds you might have different from here. Robins are robins (unless one is in England), but you do get different thrushes. Townsend's solitaire? Diffrfent juncos, too: slate-colored juncos? Just regular old Oregons here. I also seem to remember that you have woodpecker trouble a few years ago, interesting to read about but not fun for you, I'm sure.