I lifted my eyes unto the skies and saw zilch | Sam Venable
Journalist Leslie Henderson and I have been friends for over 40 years.
In terms of geography, we aren’t neighbors. She lives in the far end of South Knox County; I live in the far end of West Knox County.
On the other hand, Leslie and I are close neighbors by biblical standards — along with all human inhabitants of this orb. Thus, in keeping with biblical directives, let me state for the record that I have never coveted Leslie’s house, her manservants, her maidservants, her oxen or her donkeys.
I do, however, covet the hell out of the fact she saw the northern lights last weekend and I didn’t.
Zip, nada, zero! Arrgh!
My wife didn’t see the northern lights either. But since the milk of human kindness pulses through Mary Ann’s soul, she didn’t share my jealousy. Quite the contrary. She said nice things like, “Good for Leslie! How lucky she was! Glad she didn’t have cloud cover like we did. If anybody around here deserved to see this show, it’s her.”
Dear wife further reminded me that one of our granddaughters eyeballed the real, green-glowing McCoy a couple of summers ago during a six-day canoe/camping trip through the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area in Minnesota. Where was all that frustrated envy then, Mister Grumpy?
Gulp. I hate it when she’s right.
It’s true: If anybody in Tennessee was due a peek at last weekend’s phenomenon, Leslie Henderson was No. 1 on the list.
Two winters ago, she and her daughter traveled to Iceland specifically to view the array of nighttime color. They stayed a full week, even taking boat excursions near the Arctic Circle. All they saw were clouds.
“Don’t get me wrong. It was a great trip. We had a wonderful time being together,” she said. “But it would’ve been nice to see those lights. And to think all I had to do last Friday night was step out on my deck, and there they were!”
I have studied photos Leslie took with her phone. Quite stunning — a blend of blues, purples and reds, similar to the pattern witnessed by seemingly tens of thousands of folks across the Southland.
Leslie told me something I’ve heard from several other fortunate sky gazers: Photos seemed to capture the colors better than the naked eye. Yet they saw ’em for sure.
As anyone who picked up a newspaper or magazine or turned on a radio or TV can attest, this occurrence was frequently and thoroughly explained by scientists: sun spots, magnetic fields, geomagnetic storms, G4, G5, blah-blah-blah.
I read the stories. I listened to and watched the broadcasts. I still don’t understand one pea-pickin’ thing about any of it.
But still … .
Sam Venable’s column appears every Sunday. Contact him at sam.venable@outlook.com.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Sam Venable: I lifted my eyes unto the skies and saw zilch
