Greenish Northern Lights
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge: Relaxing #Cobalt Blue

The Sunday Stills Monthly color challenge is all about blue this week, particularly cobalt blue. Cobalt is a strong color that seems to mimic a dark, clear blue sky and deep waterscapes found in nature. But any darker, rich shades of blue will do if you choose to share your own!

Big Sky Country Central Montana
Big Sky Country Central Montana

“I never get tired of the blue sky.” – Vincent van Gogh

Many colors, including cobalt blue, can profoundly impact our psychological well-being. The color cobalt is believed to have a calming effect on the mind and body. Source

Spring Shows Off Cobalt

cumulonimbus calvas cloud
Spring Storm Clouds (cumulonimbus calvas)

Spring weather, with stormy skies, snow-melted water, and countless flowers, creates lovely landscapes highlighting the colors of cobalt.

Cobalt Blue Barn under blue skies
Cobalt Blue Barn under blue skies
Blues of a spring lake

We always love to see our sweet feathered friends…

Bluebirds in the bird bath
Western Bluebird Couple’s Bath time

…And our sweet flowered friends!

Blue hydrangea bloom
Blue hydrangea bloom

“Blue thou art, intensely blue; Flower, whence came to thy dazzling hue?” – James Montgomery

Cobalt hydrangea
Blue-ming hydrangea at Portland’s International Rose Garden
Virginia Bluebell
Volunteer Bluebell
A photographic study in blue densely packed flowers.
Lithodora

The Odd Blues

“Every bad situation is a blues song waiting to happen.” – Amy Winehouse.

Dying Dragonfly
A Dying Dragonfly

Or this scorpion found on a woodpile. It is not very relaxing when discovered by someone’s black light! I admit this was taken in Mexico a few years ago, but aren’t the colors perfect? 🤣

Scorpion lit with black light
Scorpion lit with black light

Cobalt Blue at Home

The deep shades of cobalt blue are also popular decor and interior design choices.

“Blue is, therefore, most suitable as the color of interior life.” – William H. Gass

Cobalt Blue tumblers
Cobalt Glassware
Eclectic cobalt blue decor
Eclectic Mix of Cobalt Decor

The Wearing of the Blue

For St Patrick’s Day in March, we enjoy the “wearing o’ the green,” but May always felt like a blue month to me. Do you like to wear the color blue? As you can tell from these recent snaps, blue is my hubby’s favorite color.

man and dog on tulip farm
Even Brodie loves the tulips
Man and dog
Hans and Brodie At Palouse Falls Falls

I prefer to wear most shades of green, but blue works for me, too.

Photographer in Blue

“Good things are associated with blue, like clear days, more than singing the blues. Just the word ‘blue’ in the singular is full of optimism and positive connotation to most people.” – David Carson

Aurora Borealis Blues

When I experience a fantastical cosmic event or another incredible bucket list event, somehow, an image or two will make it into my posts while staying true to the current theme. The meteorologists discussed the Northern Lights show on the way, which kept me hopeful for two days!

Disclaimer: my geek hat is on…

If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you have undoubtedly heard the news that the Aurora Borealis made an amazing appearance this weekend, well south into areas that rarely see this phenomenon.

Being further south, even in our area of Northeastern Washington state (a two-hour drive to the Canadian Border), the lights show up as white cloud-like shapes to the naked eye. It simply takes a cell phone camera set to night view (3-sec long exposure) to reveal the intense colors.

With increasing impatience, I walked outside to our driveway at 10 p.m. to see if I could view anything in our neighborhood. Plan B was to hop in the car and drive to a more remote spot to see the show. As I looked up, I saw a faint white “cloud” and snapped the photo using my cell phone.

Greenish Northern Lights
First of the Aurora

Shouting and whooping with delight, I began taking a variety of pictures! As I looked up, more of these “clouds” and streaks were forming, and within minutes, I saw this. Again, from our driveway, looking to the northwest.

Northern Lights over rural area of Spokane, WA
Northern Lights dance above my house

The Northern Lights are an amazing sight caused by solar winds and coronal mass ejections (CME). They can take many shapes, including arcs, bands, coronas, and rays. Rays in the image above dance above my house!

I stood outside from 10 pm to 12:30 am for 2 1/2 hours, taking pictures and chatting with neighbors. However, by 11 p.m., the colors became more intense as faint greens and pinks were visible to the naked eye!

Following our new neighbors, we walked down our street, then turned to look northward to see the bands like a curtain shimmering over our house (on the bottom left) and our other neighbor’s home on the right—you can just make out his cobalt blue garage lights in the bottom of the image. I’m sure I snapped at least 100 pictures over the two hours.

Bands of Green and pink Northern lights
Bands of pink and green lights

Finally, at 12:30 p.m., it was time to go in. Tired and a little cold, I saw the lights might be dimming a bit. I snapped a couple more, and wow! They were still intense!

Pink northern lights
Pink rays light up the night above our cobalt-blue pole barn

“Hues of magic fill the night sky, the northern lights overhead look beautiful, like fairies dancing in the night sky.” – Bridie

How To Participate in Sunday Stills Photo Challenge

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

I can’t wait to see how you interpret the various shades of cobalt blue this week! Join me next week as we explore… water and waterscapes.

 💙 Wishing you a Happy Mother’s Day to those who celebrate! 💙

signature

Inspiring Photo Challenges this week include Becky B’s Squares Renewal, Cee’s Flower of the Day and her Midweek Madness Challenge (denim), Dawn’s Spring Festival, Hammad’s Weekend Sky, Johnbo’s CellPic Sunday, and Lens-Artists: Hopeful.

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148 comments

  2. So many wows Terri. I don’t know where to begin. When you are a person of a certain age, jeans are what you wear. The skies are just awesome. Too many blues to list.
    I guess you can see I like it a bit 😁

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    • Thank you, Graham! I could have posted just the cobalt images without the aurora, but that wouldn’t be any fun!

      When I went outside at 9:45 Friday night, I only saw vague gray streamers and thought they were thin clouds. Once I shot through my phone they came alive. By 11pm you could see faint color with the naked eye.

      Glad you enjoyed the scorpion. It wasn’t very big but knowing they lurk in those woodpiles was a bit unsettling!

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  8. I love the different shades of blue, and nature knows how to show those colors off! I wondered if you saw the Northern Lights. I can’t see them living in the city because of the lights. But I’ve enjoyed the images online. 💖

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    • Nature must love cobalt, Colleen, thank you! I fell like a reporter just snaping away. We had the perfect view of the northern lights. Our rural area has very little city lights if any, so we didn’t have to drive anywhere. I posted a “few” on Facebook. I went out last night and could only see a faint glow on the northern horizon. Friday night lights was the show. Sorry you had so much light pollution. Sounds like a trip to Canada is in order 😉

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  10. Wow! How fun was that photographing the northern lights! Wonderful images. We’ve had some interesting skies here as well, but I don’t think on your level of intensity (not that I would know because I was too lazy to stay awake 😁)

    Wishing you a wonderful Mother’s Day.🌻

    Mother’s Day Reflections

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  11. Wow, Terri what a great selection! I love the aurora photos and all the shades of blue. The scorpion showed an amazing colour from the light and I love the flowers and birds too.

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  15. I love everything about this post, Terri. Cobalt blue is such a regal color. The picture of the spring storm clouds, the waters, birds, and the dragonfly are stunning. The aurora is magical. It’s on my bucket list. Seeing your pictures of it and your experience of waiting for it and then seeing it with your naked eyes gave me a taste of how it must have felt like to witness it. Thank you for sharing the magic.

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    • Oh thank you, Smitha! I’m so glad you like my cobalt selection this week! I really appreciated your comments on Facebook about the aurora. Magical almost doesn’t describe it enough. I felt blessed to be able to witness the event where I live!

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    • Thank you, Debbie. Cobalt was the theme but I suppose Ms. Aurora stole the show 😄 this week. For me it was kind of an emotional roller-coaster worrying we wouldn’t be able to see them after all the media hype. Then seeing them all around us by 11pm, and some faint color was beyond exciting.
      I’ve wondered about the southern lights, and why I don’t hear much about them. Hope you can see them someday!

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  22. Well Terri, I must admit I am INSANELY jealous of your glorious northern lights images! I’ve always wanted to see them but never have. Apparently there was a VERY faint appearance near my home, more white than brilliantly colored and at 3:30 am so needless to say I missed them! Loved your cobalt blue also. Terrific post!

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    • Thank you, Tina! I heard the aurora was seen down your way. Even as far north as I live, much of the light was very pale, but the camera brought out the colors which is normal apparently. The last two times I’ve seen them here, the lights were mostly on the northern horizon. Friday night, about midnight, the lights were above us and all around us. I’ll share some more pics this week. Seeing them has always been my dream too. But a trip further north or to northern Europe would work too. 💙

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  24. Terri, your cobalt-colored pictures are fabulous. I like the flowers as my favorite as they are so intense, but then I got to the Northern Lights photos – they are the best I have seen and I’ve seen many on social media from Michigan the past two days They remind me of a lava lamp. You were lucky to see the colors with your eyes as well because I kept reading that people were bummed that the experience of watching them was not as intense as how the camera images were. So someone explained why, so that was interesting to learn. I’m going to look outside tonight as they have pinpointed the best part to be 10:00 p.m. to 11:30ish.

    I did not tag you today … I could not find anything cobalt blue, although part of today’s post has a cobalt blue background. However, I went to Lake Erie Metropark and will post Tree Swallows for Wordless Wednesday. They are cobalt blue and white. The Barn Swallows are still making their way back to Michigan. They are slowpokes. 🙂

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    • A wordless Wednesday post with blue birds works just fine to link to Sunday Stills, Linda. Thank you for your very kind comment about the northern light pics. I’m sharing more on Wednesday, I took so many. Yes, our eyes can’t see the electromagnetic waves of light unless we see them in the extreme north. We could make out faint colors of pink and green with our eyes as the aurora intensified within 2 hours. In fact since our street is so quiet and dark, the sky was quite bright with the pale lights that coalesced and danced. I love your description of the lava lamp…I’m stealing that for my post.
      I hope you can see some tonight. Last night was a bust here. Just some light on the horizon. I guess I’m spoiled now 🤣

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      • A friend was in Alaska last year and said the Michigan Northern Lights were far superior than Alaska’s. I am going out in a few minutes – I just peeked and nothing yet. I’ll look forward to seeing more of your night swirly sky and yes, use lava lamp as that is what the videos I’ve seen look like.

        People here felt let down today as Mother Nature didn’t give an encore performance last night! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      • I’ve heard that about Alaska. It may have to do with the light in the sky so late. My hubby and I were just oogling our Friday night pics and these will keep me happy for…ever! I wished I’d thought of a selfie bit gotncaught up in the amazing spectacle. Our KP index is at 4. Friday’s was 8+ (9.is max).

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      • I never did see anything Sunday night, but I’ll enjoy yours and all the other photos vicariously. I saw a very cool photo today where a guy was standing on a dock, in silhouette and the person shot him from behind as he was watching this light show.

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      • Sunday’s KP index went to 2, so light wouldn’t show up so far south. I can’t believe I didn’t try a selfie or have hubby take one of me but it was hard enough to take a pic of “nothing” and have it show up so vividly.

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  29. Gosh, I love every picture. I couldn’t figure out how to tie in the northern lights 😕 but it was easy to find pictures to fit the prompt. As usual, thanks for hosting. Bernie

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    • Thank you, Debbie! Now why did I expect that you would like and comment on the scorpion? 🤣 Cobalt blue is very popular in decor. Hubby picked up that bierstein on a trip to Germany. He has a LOT!

      I have so many northern lights shots, I’ll include more this week.

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      • Haha, yes. Scorpions are a favourite band. 😀 Biersteins are such a unique German art form. Love them, but I only have one. Lots of German beer coasters, though. 🍻 Looking forward to more of your beautiful Northern Lights shots! 😍

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  32. I agree with Vincent thats why I love Perth so much, always a blue sky. I think we were about the only ones not to see those wonderful skies at night around the world
    Fabulous photos

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    • Thank you, Ali! I read the southern lights aren’t as easy to see since most land masses are further north. We were lucky to have the show overhead. Spokane gets the occasional aurora but this was an almost once in a lifetime experience, at least for me!

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  33. It felt like you had captured a rainbow made of different blues – it was so fun to see all the shades you captured.

    WOW – your investment in time for photo clicks paid off with the Northern Lights! What a beautiful sight to see. I bet it was hard to pick your favorites. Way to be awake and ready for the adventure! I’m envious of what you saw and thankful you shared your photos here. 🥰📷

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  34. Wow, fabulous shots of the Northern Lights Terri! No wonder you stayed out taking photos for so long! We missed Friday’s display, thinking it wouldn’t be visible in London (we were wrong!) so only saw a few very feeble streaks on Saturday. Luckily we’d seen them ‘properly’ in Norway a few years ago but it would have been cool to see them from our own home!

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    • Thank you, Sarah! Our local news media hyped the aurora so much, I couldn’t have missed it. The rest of the weekend’s lights were more vague on the northern horizon from our Spokane area. I’m sure your views from Norway were incomparable! Yes, seeing the lights (if not as colorful) over our heads was mind boggling!

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  35. Gorgeous pics Terri. I almost shared one of my northern lights, but then I couldn’t really see the blue like I thought I could. I’ll share a few this week on my weekend coffee share post. ooof that scorpion is a little much for me. Yikes. I LOVE those cobalt blue glasses. I did make it around through all the comments last week to visit peeps.

    https://troyerslovinglife.blogspot.com/2024/05/taking-in-life-around-mesundaystills_13.html

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    • Thank you, Kirstin! The scorpion was harmless, but you won’t see me sticking my hand in a woodpile. I had fun with the cobalt colors and couldn’t resist showing the lights against the backdrop of my blue house and pole barn.
      Would you email me the link of your weekend coffee share post, please? I would like to see the post.

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  41. You and Kirstin really did capture nature’s light show magnificently. I wish someone had called me and woken me out of my stupor, but I can enjoy yours all the more because I missed it. In my memory, that has never happened – that we could see the northern lights in the lower 48 states. What a rare experience. I’m glad you got to capture it with your neighbors, too. That makes it more fun. Your other blues are beautiful, too. Blue was Mom’s color, and so it is special to me.

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  43. Blue is my favourite colour in the world and always has been. I’m especially fond of cobalt blue, so I love the photos. FB is full of the amazing colours captured by photographers here in Vancouver a couple of nights ago. I was astonished by all the pink in the sky. Clearly, you saw it too!

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  44. Wonderful cobalt blue collection, Terri! Your Northern Lights images are fantastic! Our son took some in Vancouver, but the light pollution really dimmed the colors. Yours are wonderfully intense. Thanks for sharing your uplifting post!

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  46. Just wow Terrie. What phenominal captures you got from the Northern Lights. I sadly, live in Toronto where every planetary event is clouded out. Like you said, I’d be happy looking at blue skies everyday. ❤

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  50. I’m with Hans on wearing blue. It’s my favourite colour to wear too, Terri, although I always feel at my best when I’m wearing dark blue.

    Your photos of the Northern Lights are amazing. Sadly, I missed them when they appeared over the UK last Friday night. I was already fast asleep by the time they arrived. However, we were told they would appear over the UK the following night, but despite me taking some photos of the clear sky, not a hint of any Northern lights. I tried from all angles, but nothing. Your shots of the skies would make great cards or postcards.

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    • Thank you, Hugh! Blue is such a great color for everyone.
      I’m so sorry you missed the northern lights! I was almost nervous about it so no way was I going to miss them. Being surrounded by them even if the colors weren’t bright (unless you saw through a lens), felt unreal because there was more light in the night sky. The next two nights were a bust here but there was a bit of a glow scene once I snapped the pic. Fingers crossed the next set are visible again. I have an aurora app that tells me when I expect to see one. The KP index needs to be 5+ for us in our latitudes to see it.

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  57. […] Looking for a fun way to get consistent with blog posts, I stumbled onto something called Sunday Stills. A group of bloggers and photographers looking to share, improve, and meet others all post a themed photo or story post. I’m still not 100% consistently posting, but I’ve improved. The added benefit of getting behind the camera with a variety of subjects to focus on has also got me using my cameras more. Using cameras more has helped me improve my photography. It’s a slight improvement but I’ll take it. Check out the Sunday Stills hosts’ blog, Second Wind Leisure and her weekly post for this week at: Monthly Color Challenge Relaxing Cobalt Blue […]

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  59. Terri,

    I’m so envious of your opportunity to photograph the Northern Lights. Amazingly, they were visible in Knoxville, but we departed on our RV trip the day before and missed them. Timing is everything as the saying goes. Thanks for staying up late for the rest of us. Have a great weekend. Joe

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    • The KP index that measures the storm output was almost at 9, which was why so much of the northern hemisphere could see them, even faintly. I follow our local news and saw it coming. I felt blessed an fortunate to see them, Joe and happy to share. I shared more in another post on Wednesday.
      Enjoy your trip and thank you for commenting 😊

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