Showing posts with label clouds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clouds. Show all posts

Friday, September 9, 2011

An elemental post - Air

This week I had to cycle up to town to pick up some books for the new school year and a battery for Son 1's watch. It's good to visit the local traders for this kind of thing... but they turned out to re-open at 3pm, not at 2pm, as I'd stupidly assumed. (Don't knock them - they do stay open until 7 or 7.30, so they are working for a usefully long time.) Anyway, I cycled round the backstreets of the bastide a bit and then went to find the restored windmill. After a while sitting in its shade, I decided to lie down in its shade instead, and spent a profitable 15 minutes staring up into the air. This reminded me that I had some great sky photos taken on holiday last week - how wonderful it is when there's time to gaze upwards!This one was spotted by Ben's dad after lunch, as we sat on the patio of the gîte. It's a halo around the sun - pretty amazing!This is another view of it - a circular rainbow in the sky! How many of these things do you think we miss, because we're not looking?
These thingies are something special too. Son 1 was given a Cloud Collector's Handbook by Ben's parents this birthday. He's read it carefully so was able to identify these little wave-shaped cloud formations as something special. They are not very good examples of Kelvin-Helmhotz waves, and although they're not as good as this one, we wouldn't even have noticed them if he hadn't been reading his book.
j
Personally, I favour a combination of idle and informed sky-gazing. I don't want to know about everything but I do enjoy a bit of knowledge. You've probably guessed...
j
Thanks so much to all of you who've entered my giveaway, below. If you're not already in, please do have a look at the books on offer and choose two! The giveaway closes on Tuesday. Have a great weekend, friends.