Waiting for the stragglers to come home for supper the other day, I heard an unusual bird call up in the woods and turning around I was dazzled.
Rays of the descending Sun caught me like a floodlight.
The afternoon had been heavily overcast, but Sun always gets the last word. So to speak.
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A grey morning brings out the colours.
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“It’s awfully nice!” said Willow.
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It was a bit chilly, so she went back in.
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Flock after flock of geese passed overhead.
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I never tire of watching and listening.
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It was a day for looking up:
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The scattered clouds of early afternoon had thickened again by 4 pm.
No matter how dark the day, somewhere out there is brilliant sunlight.
Often it leaks in around the edges…
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Spotlight on the opposite hill.
As often as I have seen this happen, it still startles me.
Only that hill was lit up and just for a matter of seconds.
Luckily the camera was nearby.
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“Oh Wow!”
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As my eyes were drawn that way, I noticed turkey vultures circling.
Six or more of the huge birds
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drew my attention to stunning clouds.
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A small part of Mount Tom was briefly lit up, while all around remained dark.
One of my albums is called “darkness/light”. It contains many such images.
While I have always been pessimistic and cynical by nature, I find solace in the contrast of darkness and light.
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Before I came here, I had never lived beneath such a wide open sky.
My travels took me to many places where I enjoyed sunrises and sunsets.
In Southeast Asia, I rejoiced in towering thunderheads and monsoon rains.
But it was only since coming here that I became a sky-gazer.
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Fellow Sky-gazer.
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Two weather fronts merged
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while Mount Tom was lit up again
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This time there was no thunder.
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We got rain, quite briefly.
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It was turning into a very lovely evening.
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And at just that moment, my camera announced a termination of services.
How could the battery be flat when I had been at home all day?
Carelessness! Well, I have a spare battery, but it lives in my handbag. By the time I dug it out and made the exchange…
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There are also two other cameras around here somewhere, but that would involve activating brain cells that tend to prefer advance notice. So I fell back on my iPhone for what came next…
Thank you, Carolyn, for the sky pictures, and your thoughts on light/darkness!
Joanna
What’s not to like about your post? The beautiful sky, different colours around you and animals … it’s wonderful to start my morning with your post Carolyn! I have a book next to my bed that I want to read (for the third time), it’s called “Piercing the Darkness” by Frank E Peretti. The Afrikaans version is called “Lig verdring die Duisternis” … for me, the Afrikaans name is a better description of how light overcomes darkness.
When I moved to Norfolk, I started to notice the ‘big sky’. There are no hills, and almost no high structures to obscure views. After a lifetime in London rarely bothering to look up, I started to ‘feel’ the weather, and watch developments in the clouds.
It is good to do all this when you are retired, and do not have the pressures of working shifts to make you ignore nature because you are tired or stressed.
Best wishes, Pete.
I love the never ending changing vista that the sky presents. Even a pure blue sky is never the same twice!