Cloud Reflections at Whipple Dam

The weather turned suddenly hot in the latter part of the week, with heat and humidity reminiscent more of a mid-July day than one in late May. So we decided to go swimming!

We had already swum twice at Bald Eagle State Park, so it wasn't our first swim of the year. But we hadn't swum at Whipple Dam yet, and the water is so lovely and cool there that we decided it was time to go back.

The water was wonderful and clean and refreshing. And I spotted a number of creatures native to this place: fat salamanders basking in the shallows, large dragonflies, small damselflies, a swallow on a nest, a sleek water snake. And three of the hugest and loudest bullfrogs I've ever seen that, when disturbed, hopped across the surface of the water like skimming stones.

The story of the day, though, was the clouds. We started with a single white puffy cloud in a totally clear blue sky, and then a few more clouds moved in, creating eye-catching reflections on the lake.

The soundtrack: the Rolling Stones and a 1967 performance of Get Off of My Cloud.