The Architecture of Clouds

Magicked into being by the inscritable laws of the atmosphere, clouds exist in a constant state of flux, shifting effortlessly from one form to another. One moment, they're building upward in enormous, weighty towers with dark brooding bases. The next they're cascading down in delicate, translucent streaks. And then they're gone--shedding their moisture as rain or just evaporating into the blue....*

The clouds have been wonderful the last week even though the weather hasn't. The days begin cold and cloudless. By mid day puffy white clouds are rising above the hills, and by afternoon it is raining. The only exception to the pattern yesterday was that instead of rain, we had a wild thunderstorm with lightning followed almost instantly by great booming claps of thunder which seemed to shake the house and reverberate my chest. Not even time to say 'one Mississippi' between lightning and thunder. The strikes must have been right in the hills behind us. The thunder was followed by hail. The extra shows that we forgot to cover the porch furniture after taking Tom and Sandy to the train station.

Today's cloud was emerging from behind Wildwood Mountain, but seems to be doing what cumulus clouds are supposed to do.. Temperatures in the 80's are predicted for the weekend.

Physical therapy this morning was a jolly affair, perhaps because I didn't start until 8:30. I was in a roomful of people stretched out on tables having various parts of their bodies tended to by their therapists followed by a cadre of assistants who set up various therapeutic devices such as heat and 'stim'. There was a lot of talk about the weather and, food, particularly broccoli for some reason.

I had an hour to sit in the sun on the porch and have my coffee before dashing off down the road to Pilates. I don't think I have very many more days when I have both things on the same day....

*Gavin Pretor-Pinney, The Cloud Collector's Handbook.   I never really noticed the sky when we lived in Berkeley unless I went  up in the hills or across the bridge where I had a clear view. Here, I have wonderful views of the clouds and the sky from almost every window, and I love having this little book which describes every imaginable cloud formation. He's very precise but also seems to write with a twinkle in his eye because he's enjoying himself and the clouds so much.