The Clouds Were Magnificent

It started off windy and cool this morning – a big change from the rest of the days of our vacation. Good walking weather though so we took advantage of that. It felt good after our forced rest day yesterday. But by late morning the weather had changed to intermittent showers mixed with periods of sun. And the wind – wow.

Soon after lunchtime we looked out to see dark clouds gathering across the water and heading our way. By the time I got my camera the rain had spread across 1/2 the horizon. The wind was picking up (it was already strong) as the clouds advanced. Time to batten down the hatches. All along the shore you could see people rushing to get awnings up and screen tents down. We stood watching from the window as it slid just to the south of us and spared us the mighty thunderstorm that we could hear across the water.

Having such a wide open expanse reminds me of the prairies and it’s big sky. I love watching the changing cloud formations make their way across the sky. Sometimes the sky is clear above but we can see a distant ridge across the water, but sometimes they are right above us. The clouds range from fluffy clouds of a hot summer day, a hazy cover of humidity where the sky blends with water at the horizon, storm clouds building and gathering, and pretty much any other cloud type you’d see (except of course icy snow clouds!).

Sitting back and watching them pass brings thoughts of poetry and fanciful dreams.

Last night it stopped raining in time for us to bbq our chicken. As I stood out near the edge of the water I looked to the west to see a blue section of sky with the sun streaming down to earth. The clouds were magnificent. The whole scene looked like a page from a Sunday School book because surely that is what heaven looks like.

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though chequered by failure, than to take rank with those poor souls who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that
knows neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt