Other Mountains, Other Skies

On the road from Mars Hill to Asheville -- the skies and mountains are beautiful -- even from a supermarket parking lot.

And farther on, the sky was so compelling that I had to pull off the interstate to take another picture.

The views from our porch will always be my favorites, but there are great shots everywhere. 

Clouds

Temperatures in the nineties today -- hot, hot, hot!

 We hoped for rain and got a magnificent cloud show just at supper time. Not much rain resulted but there was a rainbow! 

Cloud Mountain

Setting autumn sun
Warms the eastern slopes; roiling
Lavender clouds rise ...

Looming high above
The wall of Blue Ridge Mountains,
Shapeless forms converge ...

For a brief moment,
I thought I saw perfection --
Fujiyama-san.

Chicken Little, the sky's on fire!

I have so many things I need to do.
and I feel like the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.

I have so many post ideas, for this blog,
for the blog at work,
and for the UpTake blog.

I'm working on writing a short story for my online Writing Class.

And I'm trying to brainstorm ideas to make my department the best at work.
And spend time with my kids.
And figure out my finances.
And file for divorce.

Oh, yeah, I need to sleep sometimes.

Just call me the White Rabbit.

The Heavenly Flocks

Sunday morning and what a pleasure to see blue skies above the mist rising from the river!

Those skies were a delight and wonder all day long with their great flocks of fluffy white clouds sweeping overhead, crowding and jostling together as they moved ever eastward.

The clarity of the atmosphere and the pure Carolina blue of the sky were intensified by the seemingly endless ranks of billowy clouds.

By evening though, like good sheep, they were gathered into the rosy fold beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Leaving the heavenly field clear for dreams.

Cloud Groupies

Did you know there are people out there who are really into clouds?

I mean, clouds are cool...
and who doesn't like them.

I've taken some amazing photos of clouds.

There were the ones that looked like an alien invasion...
and the other ones that looked like alien penguins fell from the sky.

What?
You don't see it?
You have to admit they're amazing though.


Anyway, these super-cloud groupies...they formed a group.

They're called the Cloud Appreciation Society.



As you can see, they sell books...and clothes and calendars.

Here's their manifesto:

The following is the Cloud Appreciation Society's declaration of principles:

• We believe that clouds are unjustly maligned and that life would be immeasurably poorer without them.
• We think that they are Nature’s poetry, and the most egalitarian of her displays, since everyone can have a fantastic view of them.
• We pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it. Life would be dull if we had to look up at cloudless monotony day after day.
• We seek to remind people that clouds are expressions of the atmosphere’s moods, and can be read like those of a person’s countenance.
• Clouds are so commonplace that their beauty is often overlooked. They are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul. Indeed, all who consider the shapes they see in them will save on psychoanalysis bills.
• And so we say to all who’ll listen: Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and live life with your head in the clouds!

They sound a little cloud-nutty, but ultimately, their message is nice.
They say, stop and look at the clouds and appreciate them.

A more atmospheric version of "stop and smell the roses."

Nature's tea leaves to read the atmosphere's moods? I don't know...

Go outside RIGHT NOW and look up.
Do you see clouds?
What do they look like to you?
Use your imagination, what shapes do you see?

Are you any kind of groupie?

My mom started writing this post, but I hijacked it and make it into my own.
hehe

I'm crooked like that.

And, if you're really into weather, supernatural and romance,
boy have I got a fun book series for you to read.

The Weather Warden books.

Alien Invasion or a Cold Front?

I don't normally take photos of the sky.
But, these clouds boggled my mind.
baked my noodle.
messed with my head.

Donny said they were a fleet of alien ships set on invasion.

They look like long fingers or icy knives to me.

The layers of colors, the long, pointy shapes.

They're a work of art.
Nature's beauty often astounds me.

Just had to share.