Sitting by the river at my home, with 3 visitors, I ventured to look up and around for a peek at the stars which were fairly bright.(hoping to see satellites fly over.)I noticed a flash of light seemingly coming from an aircraft coming North, afterward realizing that this kind of flash was unreasonably bright and large for an ordinary aircraft.(Nighttime photography? Not likely!)It was also to far east of the flight path (Victor37) that is used for North-South service by regional jets.)I looked for a few more seconds and turned away to fit back in with the visitors.Then I caught a second flash from the corner of my eye and looked up again but could not focus in time, I kept looking and then the third flash caught my eye dead on. At this point I sensed it to be more like a round ball due to the size of it and the height I estimated it to be traveling at.(I would guess maybe between 30 to 60 feet in diameter.)The trajectory or flight path(estimated from three flashes.) was from the Southern skyline(barely visible.)directly toward us at an assumed height of approximately 5000 to 20000 feet.(I have some experience with flying small aircraft but this should be construed as an educated guess.)The path North was concluded with a total of 3 flashes, after which I couldn't see anymore flashes.The next moment, maybe 1/2 minute after the first sighting, I was searching the sky for satellites with the naked eye, to show them to my visitors, when I noticed another flash, this time in a due East direction (which is behind me, while the first three flashes were to my left,facing to the South.)At this time I had mentioned the first few flashes to my visitors of whom only one saw the last one coming north.I exclaimed "There it goes again!" and pointed at the direction Eastward where it just flashed, when it flashed once more in the East.I continued to expect another flash and just as I had the impulse to turn my head back, ready to give up, there was another flash! but way down toward the East this time, (I estimated about at least 100 miles away.)Then maybe a 1/2 minute later as I was looking in the western sky, I caught yet another flash directly opposite in direction of the two Easterly ones, and right over the hill which I faced, to the west of my property, which is close by and high, my viewing angle about 40 degrees up,(Distance between the Eastern and western flashes had to be at least 100 or more miles.)That concluded the sighting of the flashes, and a short conversation ensued about possible aliens.I cannot reasonably deny the exsistence of aliens, nor do I want to, as we ourselves could very well be aliens to another species of life out there and I like to keep an open mind.(I am however quite interested in the subject and look up the sites for new information from time to time.)The afterthoughts!I concluded quickly that the path from above the physically visible skyline to the South, to a point above me, where "it" seemed to have turned East, to the last flash in the Eastern direction, to the last flash visible to me in the west, was too long for any aircraft (Even a fighter at mach 1.)to have covered in the space of two to three minutes.(I figure about 200-250 miles total.)Furthermore; The speed at which the flashes traversed the path I described, seemed a little fast for normal travel, and besides that, there was no noise at all. The directional change was at a perfect 90 degree angle from S-N to W-E, and one at 180 degrees from E to W to end up flashing one last time in the West.It also seemed to occur in my mind that somehow the directional change from Nothbound to Eastbound seemed quite quick, as the next flash I discovered was well on the way East, while I had just viewed the last flash coming North seemingly a split second ago (I had said 1/2 minute.)The time between the last flash in the East and the flash in the West, was at an unreasonable distance apart for the speed that even fast military aircraft would fly, in my opinion.Also to fly at a speed which would break the sound barrier, a noise of some kind would have to be heard if the object was indeed a man made craft or of a solid nature, and in this case (I live in a very quiet secluded area which is always very peaceful.)there was no noises at all, including when "it" had to have flown over and made the 90 degree turn to head East, whereas normal flights are mostly always heard as they pass even further to the West.(In my area the usual "overflights" are mostly from S to N(10 miles to the West,) or from SE to NW.(passing about 3 miles North East of my location.The only military flight path which is used here is a path which comes from the SE, on a radial of about 310 degrees or NW, from the direction of the Trenton airbase in Ontario, to North Bay, and from there goes west or straight east. There is no experimental activity here at all, unless it is unpublished, which I doubt because of the aproaches to the North Bay airport, and my property being just SE outside the control zone for aproach.The practice area for student flying is within our space above the house, but no after dark flying occurs as we do not have IFR training here in this part of the zone, and the flashes were above the practice zone and outside that particular area in any case. (above 5000'AGL.)I have often wondered about this situation and finally decided to write it out and send it. I would not push the point of having seen an "alien" craft as I simply did not see "any" craft at all, just the unseemingly bright(very white, like a very strong auto headlight.) and round like a transparent ball lit up from the inside.The flashes were very quick on and off, but longer than a flash of a camera. If I had to guess at how long, I would say from .25 to .5 of a second duration.I also thought the flashshes to the East (or the West.) would not have shown if it was a landing light mounted on a wing and facing forward away from me. Each flash still gave the impression of being totally round.I have not discussed this any further with anyone including the visitors of which one admitted to have seen it, but was not receptive to the idea of having seen something other than human originated light.(I understood the reason for this was a spiritual one.)I conclude with stating that I am well educated, and have reasonable enough education in aircraft systems and avionics to have graduated at 93% with honours (A&P mechanic.), and that I have an excellent aptitude for technology and science among more certificates and diplomas in the mechanical and engineering fields.Personally, I like the thought of maybe having seen something which could possibly be of an extra terrestrial nature, as I am expectant to find that such ocurrences are due and forthcoming in our own quest for knowledge of the universes.Thank you.John Smit.