Our friend and professional graphologist Polly Cady took this photo over Meeker, Colo., on Tuesday, July 17, 2018, and put it up on Facebook.

Is it really a cloud?

Black River Falls (Wis.) Banner Journal, Oct. 25, 2017, p. 11, "The Taylor News," by Jackie Moen. See a long para. 4 (straddles cols. 2-3) for the writer’s sighting of what she first thought might be a UFO(s) (a purple glow that in para. 5 turned out to be [a] greenhouse), and her speculation about an alien invasion and a family story that her aunt Jane had been an alien until age 12.

CREDIT: RICHARD HEIDEN

ED: The story in the Banner Journal out of Jackson County, Wis., follows as such:

Greetings from Taylor!

So, every once in a while, I decide to leave the relative silence and security of Casa Moen and venture forth into the world to socialize with other people. And when there are events like one of my dearest friends getting married, I do my best to swallow my social anxieties, put a smile on my face and venture out into the night to, you know, actually speak to people. It is usually around that time that my dear husband, Manpig, will look at me as I head out the door and say, "I don’t know, Jackie. Are you sure you want to go out in public and be around people?" Being that my husband and I have a relationship where we enjoy teasing/tormenting each other, it is usually around the time my hand lands on the doorknob that I turn to him and say, "Why? Do you miss me already and I’m not even out the door?" And this, my friends, is when Manpig will look at me, completely straightfaced, and say, "Nope. But the dog might miss you. MIGHT. Did you hear I said MIGHT?" Yup. I MIGHT miss the dog for the 10 minutes it is going to take for me to run to the store, maybe 30 minutes depending on how long I have to wait for the train.

This weekend was a grand adventure to the great village of Chili, where I was fortunate enough to be able to congratulate one of my dearest friends on her recent nuptials. As I had never been to Chili before, I thought of this as a grand adventure. Did Chili disappoint? It did not, my friends. A grand adventure was had! As I returned home from my grand adventure, I was happy but more than ready to be home, safely tucked away from the rain, thunder and lightning.

While I was driving on the Interstate, I started to see a light in the distance and didn’t think much of it until I came over the hill by Northfield and the night sky was completely purple. I have to admit, I was kind of stunned! For just the briefest moment, I thought maybe I had gotten ahold of a bad iced chai latté and was hallucinating! Was I seriously seeing the world covered in a gentle purple glow?! But, my mind tends to jump from one thing to the next (I do have a pretty good imagination, I have been told), and while I went to the logical explanation first (maybe it was a building lit in purple for domestic violence awareness, as October is Domestic Violence Awareness month), but then went to, "holy cow! Are we being invaded by aliens?" which was immediately followed by, "and, if the aliens are here, does that mean that the mothership has landed to bring me home?"! as I have been told on numerous occasions by my dear, loving husband that he is about 98 percent sure I am not of this world.

(As a side note, my dear Aunt Jane was told by my father and Aunt Claudia that she was an alien for around the first 12 years of her life, with the threat given that her biological alien family was going to come back to get her one day. This may be a family teasing trend that is passed down from generation to generation.) As my fellow drivers on the Interstate and I slowed down to gawk (because, you know, slowing down to gawk at a potential alien invasion is a great idea, because gawking at aliens, I’m sure, wouldn’t upset said aliens at all... it occurred to me that whatever this unknown purple building was, it would most certainly result in plenty of conversations from people driving by it on the Interstate. It is really cool to see.

Needless to say, I did learn that it is greenhouse and not invading aliens! So, we can relax, fellow
citizens of Jackson County.

(Jackie Moen)