The Cloud Chasers

 

Clouds.  Billowy, pillowy puffs of snowy white strewn across a clear blue sky.  Or, adrift and alone like islands in the sky, part of an archipelago of the universe beyond our line of vision.

Distant memories of lying on our backs in plush green grass staring up at amazing shapes overhead conjuring animals, people or fanciful places and wondrous creatures from childhood fantasies.  Do kids today even do that anymore?  Take time to lie on their backs in plush green grass and stare up at the sky, literally watching the clouds go by?  In our fast-paced, toot sweet world, it seems that children grow up so fast.  Too fast.

We live in an area of our country where endless blue, cloudless skies are the norm.  Beautiful days; days of balmy weather, the endless blue tempered by occasional days of gray (“May gray, June gloom” we locals chant as reminders to out-of-town guests about when NOT to visit our fair city), or haze brought on by smog.  Or sometimes, like today, low-lying clouds edged in shades of gray and vanilla, the vast blue burning overhead.

When we have marvelous displays of large billowy, pillowy puffs of clouds, I morph into a “Cloud Chaser” or, with Charlie as my driver, we become, collectively, “The Cloud Chasers.”  With my fancy, dancy camera in hand, we are in pursuit of capturing the magic of stunning clouds cast across our barren landscape.

 

The collage of photos above illustrates our cloud chasing escapades.  Trying to take pictures of clouds in a moving vehicle (especially a fast-moving vehicle!) is a challenge!  Traffic interferes, landscape interferes, traffic lights, signs, bridges, and the interior of your car (and the glare of your windshield) all get in the way!  So, capturing these fabulous displays unencumbered by man, is more difficult than I thought.  Obstructions everywhere!

 

 

Power poles and lines alone are the biggest nuisance!  Just when I think I’m capturing the most amazing shot, I can’t get out-of-the-way of a power line!  Not to be waylaid, we set out over-and-over again on other marvelously beautiful days in search of scenic vistas.

 

 

But, in spite of the man-made obstacles, I’ve had success.  Lots and lots of success! 500+ photos worth of success!  So, narrowing the selection of photos to just a few to share with readers has been mind-numbingly tedious!  But, the good news is – I love our blog, I love taking pictures and I love sharing my photos, so I don’t really mind the tedious part of viewing 500+ photos to select just the perfect few!

Enjoy the show!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, after chasing clouds over several weekends, guess what?  I had my own glorious display right from my own yard!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who knew that the sky could be so many different shades of blue OR that I didn’t need to go chasing clouds?  Like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, I just needed to walk out my own front door!

 

 

Tootles,