Three things that I really love about the crisp cold winter nights in Alaska are twinkle lights, getting from the cold into the warm (and occasionally vice versa), and the dancing aurora.
Alaska twinkle lights
Twinkle lights are all over town to illuminate the darkness. They are wrapped around trees. Some buildings have snow flake or icicle lights hanging down the roof. Others have twinkle lights along the gutters, sometimes even down the corners of the houses. Twinkle lights are on fences. Some people even enter a competition for the best twinkle lights display. The local newsletter publishes the winners and people actually drive there at night to take photos.
The upper most photo shows a twinkle light wrapped around the entry arch of a local restaurant. In the back, you see further blue twinkle lights, but also a green oblong twinkle light display. It is actually an ad board. Who takes the effort to put twinkle lights around an ad board? I cannot imagine that anyone, but Alaskans do.
Warm houses
I am fascinated that a wall of just about 7 inches (18 cm) makes it possible to have 68F (20C) inside at 40 below. This condition means a temperature gradient of 15.4F per inch (3.3C per centimeter). Ok, to keep it that way one needs a lot of energy. Now think about the human body. The outside air and skin have an even larger temperature difference! The temperature gradient is even larger as it is a thin air layer skin to air. Having this in mind, can you imagine the feeling on your skin walking from the cold inside (or vice versa)? In the second and third photo of this post, I enjoy this feeling. Do you see the glow?
Dancing aurora
I love to watch the green aurora dancing in the sky. Unfortunately, at the moment, the aurora displays are very late at night. This fact is not the reason why there is no photo in this post. Since the aurora moves, it is very tricky to take pictures. I prefer to watch the aurora from the warmth of a car or standing at the window inside. The painting in the photo below shows an aurora. I bet the painter did not sit outside painting. 😉
You can fond more on the aurora here and here.
OOTD
I wore this gray and blush pink outfit at the office and following work dinner. Neutral colors always look professional. I added some interest and little pops of color with the carved gemstone necklace. As usual, I also styled the outerwear. I accessorized with a belt and structured bag.
Photos: G. Kramm (2014)
Copyright 2013, 2014 Nicole Mölders | All rights reserved
