Skyscapes

I know. There’s no such word as “skyscape.” But, as far as I’m concerned…there should be! Just as with a “land” scape or a “sea” scape….there’s a whole world made from combinations of clouds and light.

When I was little, I loved to lie on my back and watch clouds as they rolled and roiled overhead. Often I would imagine the changing shapes to be animals as the clouds billowed and re-formed. What I saw overhead through my child’s eyes was an ever-changing menagerie.

I’ve always thought the clouds that form over the Appalachians are some of the most beautiful anywhere. Throughout the summer, as we wait for approaching thunderstorms, watching them build into towering cumulus mountains, we see the beautiful--awesome-- forces of the natural world. Sometimes the clouds are quite ominous-looking, with winds aloft that are fierce.

Other times, they are tufts of torn-off vapors that travel lightly, mere feathers against the blue bowl overhead.

Skyscapes are often used to suggest beautiful worlds beyond. Indeed as the Hubble Telescope has penetrated the farthest reaches of our universe and beyond, we begin to see skycapes we’ve never known existed. We are now able to experience the wonder of unexplored galaxies, even universes , through powerful lenses that capture the dramatic and breathtaking grandeur of “worlds beyond.”

 Today's photos are  linked only by the thread of their being more “skyscape” than "land"scapes."  They represent only a few of the myriad moods of my outdoor world, out here Just Off the One-Lane Road.