Tag Archives: clouds

Explorations above and below.

family, movies, travel, women, , , , , , , ,
Yellow Archangel – Lamium galeobdolon

Friday was warm enough to make me want to walk in the evening, though I’d had two good outings already that day. The sun was setting when I got back to Pearl’s, and instead of going in, I sat on the deck and let the gentle breeze blow on me.

Black clouds lay in a thick bank along the horizon, and a wisp of crescent of moon rose in the sky. Gradually the clouds grew and spread upward to fill the space, and the moon was covered up, then revealed again… finally the darkness conquered.

That was the night that the train of solar flares was creating an unusual display of Northern Lights, but for our household it was a night of thunderstorms, and everyone went to bed early, still trying to catch up from our intense week.

On Saturday Philosopher became the center of attention again, when he graduated from Marquette University and we all attended the ceremony and had a family dinner afterward. My son-in-law Nate started talking about going up in his airplane to see what we could see, on the second night of the colorful phenomenon that was reportedly, possibly, continuing.

Maggie and I voted to make the effort, and were thankful that her father was willing to go ahead with the trip, even though the scientific model of the event he was looking at online began to show an unpromising outlook.

We drove to the local airport just before dark, where Maggie helped to tow their plane out of the hangar and Nate went through his thorough pre-flight check. That airport’s control tower shuts down at 9:00 p.m., and we seemed to be the only ones around. 

Soon we were airborne, Maggie in front with her dad and me in a seat not far behind. For pilot communications Nate joined a local network of pilots in the area, until we got in range of larger airport controllers. We all had our headsets to block out the engine noise and to make it possible to hear one another, and I was surprised to be able to hear the other pilots, too, talking about altitude and speed and bearings, and even sharing whether any sightings of the auora borealis had been reported yet that night. The word was that soon we’d be able to see those lights.

Wing lit up by flashing red lights on plane.

We never did see any colors up there, even though we flew nearly to the Canadian border. We did notice unusual lights, and brightness along the horizon. And lots of stars, and that dearly beloved moon. It was a wonderful excursion, our sort of scientific expedition, and we got to bed very late that night, which had by then become the morning of Mother’s Day.

It was another quiet day, for several reasons, not least of which was, it was my final day  there. There was a picnic on the lawn, made by the children, and in the evening my daughter and I took one last walk in a different neighborhood (one picture from that at top); then Maggie suggested watching the 2020 film of “Little Women,” which none of us had ever seen. I haven’t even read the book of Little Women since I was ten years old.

We liked it very well, except that we thought Laura Dern was miscast as Marmee, and not the sort of mother we would want to have when going through trials. Still, it was a fun movie to see on Mother’s Day, and I kept thinking how I would love to have a few of their dresses in my closet. 

I’ve been working on this last post of my trip adventures since early this morning, and while waiting at airports, and even on the plane. I guess I have finally figured out how to compose blog posts on my phone, and I’m glad to be able to travel without lugging my laptop along. Now I’m home and finishing up on my PC.

In honor of all you mothers and children of mothers, a belated Happy Mother’s Day! For your inspiration, here’s a shot of those geese and goslings I left behind in Wisconsin.

Blue lake and golden squirrels.

cabin, mountains, nature, , , , ,

I stood on the cabin deck watching the critters on the slope below, where they scrambled about, doing their work. After a while I pulled up a chair to the railing and watched some more. Squirrels and chipmunks had found the recent offering I’d made, seeds scattered in the little neighborhood as though from their heaven.

For several days I’m enjoying the mountain air at the family cabin in the High Sierra, over 8,000 feet in elevation. It’s cold this week, and the animals are no doubt storing food in their winter homes.

Right away I noticed that two species of small animals were present there, and I remembered the name of one, because of the many times my children and I had studied about them in the nature guides; any time our yearly camping trips took us to these Sierra Nevada Mountains, we would encounter them. The Golden-mantled Squirrel is the larger of the two, and the smaller is the chipmunk, likely the Lodgepole or Sierra Chipmunk.

Even after they discovered the seeds, the chipmunks spent time in the middle of the gooseberry bushes, hidden from view but making the branches rustle and sway. They must have been eating the dried remains of the berries. And the chipmunks especially like to play chase over and around the boulders, occasionally stopping for a second to tempt me to take their picture. I did get one blurry shot including both species.

Other than watching their fun, I’ve been taking in the cloud show that is ever fascinating, and I succumbed to the requisite first-day-at-the-lake nap. I’ve already thought of more things I want to share here, from my thoughts and observations, so probably you will hear from me again soon.

Away from shadows and wilting.

nature, poetry, , , , , ,

For a half hour I walked my loop bending backward to take pictures of these crazy clouds. They filled the whole sky.

After a while I thought maybe they were blending together too much to be quite as interesting, and my neck was getting tired. By then I was closer to home noticing the street view, and several unwatered lawns in the neighborhood with a cheery wildflower/weed display:

DESPAIR

So much gloom and doubt in our poetry –
flowers wilting on the table,
the self regarding itself in a watery mirror.

Dead leaves cover the ground,
the wind moans in the chimney,
and the tendrils of the yew tree inch toward the coffin.

I wonder what the ancient Chinese poets
would make of all this,
these shadows and empty cupboards?

Today, with the sun blazing in the trees,
my thoughts turn to the great
tenth-century celebrators of experience,

Wa-Hoo, whose delight in the smallest things
could hardly be restrained,
and to his joyous counterpart in the western provinces,
Ye-Hah.

-Billy Collins

Blue skies improve the mood.

nature, poetry, , , , , , ,

Those who aren’t severely affected by wildfires to the point of being evacuated temporarily or permanently from their homes, and who continue to go about their usual work, might still be vaguely or acutely affected by smoke. Some of my family in northern California and southern Oregon have had weeks of smoke that keeps them indoors, makes the sky dark and the air muggy. Even here, my eyes are scratchy. It all has a distracting and depressing effect, though one is not always fully conscious of it.

But this morning my daughter Pippin exclaimed, “Today, the sky is blue!” and sent a photo to prove it. I had recently joined in one blog draft a photo she took in England and a poem, which I’m publishing in celebration of blue skies. They are currently a welcome background for sheep or clouds or what have you.

THE LIKENESS

When I came forth this morn I saw
Quite twenty cloudlets in the air;
And then I saw a flock of sheep,
Which told me how these clouds came there.

That flock of sheep, on that green grass,
Well might it lie so still and proud!
Its likeness had been drawn in heaven,
On a blue sky, in silvery cloud.

I gazed me up, I gazed me down,
And swore, though good the likeness was,
‘Twas a long way from justice done
To such white wool, such sparkling grass.

-William Henry Davies

Pippin Pic of Yorkshire Dales