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In Colorado, we have sunny days and blue skies 300 days a year. When there is a cloudy day, we are not pleased. We whine, complain, cry, grumble, moan, gripe and sometimes wail.
We ask when it will all disappear. We say things like, “What has happened to the weather?” or “Can you believe it’s been cloudy this morning?” We wonder: “Do you think the clouds will last long?” We look out and say things like, “Come on Mr. Sun” make your usual appearance!” and “Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, please Mr. Sun, please shine down on me.”
So, although I count myself as a Coloradoan, (I’ve lived here most of my adult life) I want to admit that I love clouds. I love the names of them and the look of them. How can one not adore these beautiful words: cumulus, stratus, cirrus and nimbus? I think we should have more of them. How else can we teach our children how to find pictures in clouds if there are none?
A couple of days ago my husband and I were returning home. What I saw ahead as I drove appeared to be the last of the mountain front that had offered clouds and a few flurries early that morning. By afternoon the front had dissipated and had become an enormous cloud, consolidated and beautiful. I took the photo from the front of my house.
Weather Prediction for today: Cloudy with Flurries!!
I'll take a sunny day any time over a cloudy one, too. But you have described many reasons to appreciate clouds - so you have convinced me to look for those silver linings! Poor old nimbus - you don't hear that name much any more. Thanks for sharing your perspective.
ReplyDeleteYou caught my interest right away...oh my cacophony of displeasure of that rings out on a cloudy day...you captured it. Brave you standing up to the masses your public declaration!
ReplyDeleteI am always surprised to see clouds here, in Jeddah. I love them too. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI love that image! Great pairing with your writing!
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying hearing how each person gets inspired to write every day, and I agree that clouds like that are beautiful and absolutely worth celebrating!
We have plenty of clouds in Maine as we receive the rest of the nation's weather. I agree with you...I like clouds especially when they sit on a backdrop of blue skies like your cloud. I think we should celebrate all kinds of weather (except for the destructive kind). I love rain...its pitter patter on the roof, the way it leaves a deeper green the next day, how it washes the dust and dirt off my driveway...
ReplyDeleteYou put a positive spin and a negative for many...good for you!
That's a great picture. I remember lying on the grass as a kid, just watching clouds. And then when we learned about them in school, I saw the clouds in a new way -- more scientific, less creative (darn school). But now, I can appreciate both sides of my view of the skies (yeah, school!)
ReplyDeleteKevin
I guess I've come to appreciate the wide variety of weather that we get in Chicago. Those big fluffly cloud days are the best. Relaxing, watching them gently clip by. You keep being a secret cloud lover!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a spaceship hovering overhead, the aliens inside are deciding should they investigate the land below? That's what I see in the cloud. I had to laugh at all the grumbling sounds you listed. There are clouds and cloudy days. I'll take clouds, fluffy and white over cloudy, gray and overcast.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize you were in CO! We visited there - Snowmass - last summer for the first time. Each day my husband and I were more amazed at the skies than the next. It was incredible!
ReplyDeleteI like the photo and enjoyed your observations about Coloradans and clouds! I too love clouds. When we moved to Colorado from Connecticut I felt like we finally got enough sky to see them in!
ReplyDeleteYour photo really dove tailed with your slice. I have been a cloud watcher and storyteller for years. Rita and I used to pick out sky pictures all the time. I still do it. Now I occasionally play the game with my husband.
ReplyDeleteHey your not alone. I need clouds to break up that clear blue when I'm taking out my camera for a spin. I'm sure you'd love Tuvia's stories about how he stayed alive by getting to know those clouds. So lady, you are not alone.
ReplyDeleteI can't get your first sentence out of my mind. I don't think that we ever have three consecutive days without clouds. I believe that Estonians are gloomy partly because there are too many cloudy days in a year. What I think of a cloud depends on what it brings.
ReplyDeleteSo, I read this and stopped still:
ReplyDelete"In Colorado, we have sunny days and blue skies 300 days a year. "
I sent this to my husband immediately - we've been plotting to move to Western Massachusetts, but the above sounds SO enviable!
Oh, Linda! Yet another connection! I love clouds too. And when I was in 7th grade we each had to pick a science topic to teach to the class. I picked clouds. Loved the names: cumulo nimbus, cirrus, etc. I wrote a poem about clouds ages ago. I'll try to dig it up and post sometime. What a treat to bring this to mind! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteooh, what a beautiful picture! Those kind of clouds are so fun! Unfortunately, here in Ohio (at least in winter), the sky just gets filled with an ugly gray. No shapes, no puffy whiteness, just gray. So when I read your title, I thought: "Ugh, clouds!" I see what you mean now though!
ReplyDeleteClouds I love, it's the gray dark stuff that I don't like. Love your picture and your reasoning with seeing pictures in the clouds. Cloud watching is so much fun.
ReplyDeleteOh My! Fats would so love this post! One of her favorite picture books of all time is David Wiesner's Sector 7 and she also makes it a habit to take cloud photos and their unique and strange shapes. I'd share this one with her. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Linda! Myra is right!! I do love clouds. I take pictures of them every chance I get. In fact, I have a separate album dedicated to just clouds. It has over 70 pictures, if I remember correctly. There was even one album which I named "Poetry Engraved in Clouds." I also joined this website called Clouds 365 Community (http://www.clouds365.com/year3/). Clouds, to me, are among nature's wonders. I hope to share my cloud collection with you someday. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool picture. During your post I was reminded of the picture book Cloudette. I think it's because your love of the clouds made the feel "real" to me which made me think of a story in which a cloud is personified. I'm jealous of your weather!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photo and wonderful post! I love cloud-gazing, too. Fortunately for me, we have a lot more cloud activity here in northern Illinois! ;)
ReplyDeleteLinda- thanks for sharing such a lovely photograph. I am a cloud lover. I've always found solace in watching clouds float across the sky. i'm with you, I love the names of clouds too!
ReplyDeleteI never realized Colorado has that much sun. Why am I not living there? I need sun!! I am taken back by the fact that you get excited about clouds, but I can see why. We do get beautiful sunsets with clouds in Indiana though. Wonders of the West!!!
ReplyDeleteI love the voice in this piece - a little tongue-in-cheek, a teasing voice, especially when you talk about the kinds of reactions people have to a cloudy sky. I can't imagine living in a place where you have sun 300 days a year - must be just lovely in Colorado. I'm glad that you like the clouds too. My husband loves to find 'things' in the clouds.
ReplyDeleteWe had another warm-ish and windy day here in Michigan and this post makes me realize that a day of laying in the grass and staring up at the clouds is in my near future!
ReplyDeleteI like how you talk about adoring those cloud words! That is an amazing picture. I agree with Bets - I can't wait for the warm spring days and lying in the grass looking for pictures in the sky. Thanks for sharing!
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