Sky Love.. and a New Book! Or Two..

I love the sky!  Blue sky.  Gray sky.  Sky full of clouds.  The night sky with the bright (when the clouds don't cover it,) moon and stars.  I love its vastness.  The fact that most often it makes me feel small.  In a good, comforting way.  Makes me realize there are other worlds out there, and that this one is enormous; however, not all there is.  I live a couple thousand miles from my family and many of my friends, but i know that when we look up on a cold winter's night or a scorching summer's night; we see the same sky.  My grandfather taught me about the clouds and weather when i was a young girl.  I wish i'd paid closer attention.  I loved my walks with him and my grandmother around their farm.  Gramps was, in his young days, a Merchant Marine officer and traveled the world.  An expert navigator and 'cloud reader'.  When he married my grandmother, he retired from the Merchant Marine, and they became farmers.  They lived by the weather and natural cycles their whole lives.  When i was a girl, Gramps read to me from National Geographic.. or 'The Geographic' as he called it.  Fascinating!  When i got older and visited, he always asked,  'Have you read the new 'Geographic' yet, Mary Ellen?'  Usually, i hadn't.  I became interested in other kinds of reading when i 'grew up'.  Thought i was too mature for it, or something.  Silly i know.  S and i have subscribed to it for years, and i read each month's issue.  I wonder if my grandfather knows and feels a sense of satisfaction?  :)  Anyway, back to my love of sky and clouds.  I used to know the names of the various clouds and why they formed in a particular way.  That knowledge has been lost unfortunately.  I want it back!  Therefore..

I took myself to Powell's Books (again.)  As i've said before, it's one of the places i lovingly call Paradise, and i bought this little second hand gem for $5.  I need to brush up on the clouds and make my grandfather proud!  It's a tiny book, but fascinating from what i've looked at so far.  By the week's end, i'll be a cloud connoisseur!  I'll have to be careful i don't drive S crazy when we go for walks or drives.  That i don't constantly discuss what kind of clouds i see and what the weather will be like in an hour or so!  Though he likely wouldn't mind.

I love to take photos of the sky too.  Especially if i see something i like, as here.  It was rainy/sunny/sun beginning to set here.  I thought this was beautiful.  Clouds.. even 'rain clouds', are lovelier than just a plain steel gray sky.  Especially at sunrise or sunset.

I think this is beautiful too.  I'm not bragging about my picture taking skills.   All i did was point my Droid camera up at the sky and shoot!  Nature provides the beauty.  But i've no idea what these clouds are named.  I must know.  Must research!  :)  Anyway....

As i mentioned above, i made another trip to Powell's this afternoon.  I like to read three or four books at a time.  Today, while i was perusing the fiction shelves; i found this!

I've read a couple of books by French author and film director Marguerite Duras, but not this particular one.  'The Ravishing of Lol Stein'.  At the beginning, when she is nineteen, Lol Stein's fiance leaves her for an older woman.  Over time, she becomes obsessed with the incident, but she eventually marries and has a family.  In her 30s, Lol moves with her husband back to the town where the betrayal took place.  The book is about love, obsession, disappointment, and finally insanity.  I'm looking forward to reading it.  It was written by Ms. Duras in 1964, when i was one year old.  I adore books from the early to late 60s.  The New York Times said of it.. 'Brilliant... shoots vertical shafts down into the dark morass of human love.'  THIS is my kind of story!  SO looking forward to it.

Well.. i have some sumptuous reading to do!  Goodnight and peace for this Wednesday, the Fifteenth of February, Twenty Twelve.  And every once in awhile when you're spending time out in nature, take a minute to look up at and appreciate the spacious sky!  It's beautiful!  Night.  :)  M...