Conversations about Clouds

ConversationsAboutClouds, originally uploaded by carolsLittleWorld.

When you see this image, do you think the two people are discussing the weather maybe or perhaps the clouds?

This shot was taken in Iceland, near an algae filled pond (that was completely green by the way-that’s the green you see in the upper right hand side of the image.) It was a sunny day and so the pond was also reflecting the clouds and the sky above. Lots of reflections, lots of layers. This entire place was sort of like a “painted canyon.”

We drove up in our off road vehicle, traveling along the bumps and rolls of the path, not knowing where we were going. We found these sort of “algae pods” (lakes) in the middle of a very cool glacier area, with lots of rock formations around as well. Since the place sort of looked like the beginning of time and the algae looked, well, what could only be described as *very green* we started talking about primordial ooze and the beginnings of time. But the reflections were still there for me, I kept going back to reflections and thinking about how painterly the reflections in the algae pond looked to me. So, I dubbed this place “the place where Monet meets the dinosaurs.” I think it kind of fits, even if it’s a little bit long for a location name.

One problem I had on my trip was that, since I don’t speak any Icelandic at all (it’s a rather difficult language to pick-up, or so I’m told) I could not pronounce any of the locations where we were. The workshop folks were kind enough to send me an official list but I had already made up my stubborn mind to re-name everything as I saw it. So now, this place will forever be known as the “Monet meets dinosaurs” location, regardless of the “official” name (said with apologies to the good folks of Iceland who can actually understand and pronounce these locations.)

Back to conversations about clouds.

Since the fires are very crazy around here, a lot of people have been having conversations about clouds around Austin. The problem with that is, our clouds? They aren’t the pretty “pufty” clouds you see on a sunny day, like these clouds, they are clouds of smoke. Clouds of smoke coming from fires burning out of control. If you could not guess, those aren’t very pretty clouds at all. We really don’t want to see more of them. They are not really very well-liked around these parts these days.

So, today I uploaded this image to remind me that clouds are cool or at least they can be cool. I shouldn’t hold it against the clouds, they aren’t the problem. It’s the fires that are killing us. Sure, we could do without the smoke too, but the fires are raging out of control. The clouds? They have nothing to do with this really, other than maybe the fact that they haven’t brought us rain in a while.

It’s been too long since we’ve had conversations about clouds that didn’t involve fires. We need to go back to talking about happy bunnies and odd clown faces people see in clouds, not living in fear of smoke and hidden burning embers. Please cool clouds, bring us some rain soon and, if you do, I promise I’ll post more favorable photos of you in the future as well. Deal?

Until next time…