They say Montana is "Big Sky Country". I love Montana and I love the big sky. The sky here runs sea to sea, horizon to horizon. It is easy to see how this country got the name Aotearoa because as the name implies, it really is the land of the long, white cloud. Those long white clouds are amazing.
They fill the sky and then they are gone as fast as they came. They are stratus, cumulous, nimbus and many other clouds, sometimes all at the same time. They are tinged with cream, peach, gray, baby blue. It is easy to use your imagination watching these clouds. They are wispy and fluffy, cotton puffs and lambs wool. They are heavy with rain or light "as a cloud".
I have taken dozens of pictures of just clouds. I love the sunrises and the sunsets. It is not uncommon to see Elder and Sister Jarvis madly dashing to the end of the street in the early morning when they realize there is an awesome "red sky at morning" over Washdyke ocean. We grab our slippers, robes and both cameras and head out as fast as possible to catch that fleeting moment. It doesn't last long. Click, click, click and then it is gone but not to digital or our memories.
The sun comes up in a ball of fire and paints the whole sky with gorgeous shades of red, coral, purple and violet. It is never the same. In the evening, it reverses itself, setting over the southern alps. the shades are often the same and are so awe inspiring.
There is nothing I like better than to look out the kitchen or lounge window to see some fantasy sculpture carved in the clouds, a tiger, a dog, an alligator. It is amazing to be traveling through the mountains and see the puffs of smoky clouds hanging in over the peaks making them look as if they are "floating on a cloud".
I will miss these vistas of Aotearoa but they will always be carved in the clouds in my mind.
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