It was Wednesday evening the sun was almost completely set when I looked out upon this scene:

I ran to the office, retrieved the camera and stepped (bare feet) onto the very cold front deck.  The scene changes so rapidly that I didn’t stop for the tripod.  I braced my hand against a partially open door in an effort to get a [not too blurry] shot.

Mere seconds later it looked like this:

It was the most unusual sunset picture I have ever taken.  Isn’t it great when you have a day that brings something completely unexpected, entirely beautiful and is bestowed upon you as a gift?  That’s the way I felt on Wednesday evening.

I had been feeling a bit sad about having missed Tuesday night’s auroral display.  While not the same, this made me feel a whole lot better.