T is for Thunderclouds

I have an ongoing love affair with clouds...I'm often seen gazing at the heavens to catch the inexorable ebb and flow of movement across the sky.

On a road trip several years ago, my husband and I seemed to drift from one storm to another, no matter how far we travelled or how many states we crossed.

Mesa Verde, Colorado

 Awed by the power and beauty, I took shot after shot.

 These are some of the results....

 Monument Valley, Utah

Bryce Canyon, Utah

Antelope Canyon, Arizona

A fairly typical November day here in Vancouver

And after the storm come rainbows. 

I captured this one arcing over the River Lagan in my birth city of Belfast, Northern Ireland.



For more takes on the letter "T", do drop by ABC Wednesday and enjoy the view...





http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.ca/

Shadow Shot Sunday: Utah Shadows

If you've read my previous posts, you'll know that I fell in love with Utah after a road trip there last year. Its breadth and topography left me gasping with awe at each turn of the road. In all my travels, I have never seen its like before...it is, quite simply, a photographer's dreamscape.


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Among many possibilities on the trip, Utah offered endless opportunities for shadow shots. The light had a radiant quality, clear and unfettered, that spun swirls of shadows across the red soil and undulating rock faces.

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It seems certain I will once more succumb to the call of these great canyons and cliffs, and the

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wide grassy valleys... I know I would never tire of watching shadows shift and form anew as the sun moves across the sky...

I am linking this post to Shadow Shot Sunday, hosted by the gracious Tracy. You can be assured of a treat for the eyes if you pop in for a visit!

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http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/
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Stormy Utah Skies

Because I love storms, I was delighted that thunder and lightning traveled with us on a recent US road trip. Throughout the National Parks in southern Utah, rain was our constant companion...it served to heighten the colour of the red sandstone formations and provided me with hours of blissful sky-watching!Visiting Monument Valley was a special treat...it has been on my travel wish list for years. When black clouds gathered and thunder began resounding through the valley, I knew this was the perfect time for me to have come.





I have never seen rain come down with such power and volume. I was rendered breathless as I watched and listened.


Then as suddenly as it began, the rain came to a stop. Before long the sun poked its way through again, illuminating the valley floor, now richly red, and reflecting off the rivulets that streamed from the mesa tops.





The thrill of watching a storm rage through this magical place
is something I will never forget...


I'm linking this post to Looking At The Sky on Friday, graciously hosted by Tisha of Crazy Working Mom. For more sky pictures, do check out the link below.
http://www.crazyworkingmom.com/hosted
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Egyptian Skies

In Egypt, the sun is unrelenting. With negligible rainfall, few clouds mar the blue perfection of its skies and the heat is a presence you can reach out and touch.

Sunset over the Nile

We visited Egypt at the peak of summer when daytime temperatures were in excess of 40 degrees Celsius, (105 degrees Fahrenheit), and the evenings cooled down only marginally.

The Sphinx
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The capital city, Cairo and its surrounding area, is home to seventeen million people. Roads are a driving nightmare as millions of tightly-packed trucks and cars jostle for space, spreading out in in numerous wide lanes that follow no order we could discern.
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As a result of this density, a blanket of smog shrouds the city always. On the Giza Plateau, we were told this was a good day and we were lucky to have clear skies to see the view.
The Giza Plateau looking across the Nile River to Cairo.
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Of course, stifling heat, traffic madness and the ever-present din of car horns could not detract from the majesty of the Pyramids. It was easy, on that expanse of plateau, to imagine life along the Nile when pharaohs ruled, and these pyramids were built to hold their remains.

The Valley of The Kings lies on the West Bank of the Nile. Ancient Egyptians believed that, as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, so should man live on the East Bank of the Nile and be buried on the West.

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The skies here were clearer, and the temperature even higher as the valley held tightly onto the sun's heat.

Climbing ever-deeper into the burial tombs of kings, the air shimmering with the heat and humidity generated by the hundreds of tourists that pressed around me, I felt my heart fill with a delight and satisfaction that surpassed any thought of discomfort.

After a lifetime fascination with Egyptology, I was at last following the footsteps of pharaohs...and it was magnificent!
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I’m linking this post to ‘Looking At The Sky Friday’, graciously hosted by CrAzY Working Mom at the link below. Do stop by for skies that will inspire!

http://www.crazyworkingmom.com/

September Sunset

While having dinner with my menfolk last night, I saw my husband glance over my shoulder at the window behind me, his fork held briefly suspended.
Still eating, I raised my eyebrows in question. Master of understatement, his response was a shrug,
and a muttered, "Oh, nothing..nice sunset."

Magic words to my ears! Dinner was forgotten as I gasped a quick, "Excuse me!", grabbed my camera and hurried out to the deck.

'Nice' hardly begins to describe the magical blues and golds that painted the evening sky! I love the mercurial quality of clouds, the swift and everchanging transformations that hypnotize and render one spell-bound. I took a few shots then leaned on the railing to simply soak up all that splendour.

"Your dinner's getting cold," I heard a voice warn me from inside, but there was no contest as to which I wanted more.
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Food for the body or food for the soul...the feast for my eyes won out as it always will with this mad photographer!

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I am linking this post to Looking At The Sky on Friday, graciously hosted by CrAzY Working Mom at the link below. Do stop by for skies that inspire!
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http://www.crazyworkingmom.com/
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Looking at Whistler Skies.

This past weekend my husband and I took a longer-than-usual Sunday drive, doing a round trip of four hundred kilometers to play tourist on Whistler Mountain for the day!

If you watched any of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games held this February in Vancouver, you would have seen many televised events from the ski hills and sled runs of Whistler. .

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Getting up to Whistler Mountain was always a challenge. A precarious two-lane road hugged the hillsides too tightly for comfort and the sheer drops on the open side gave
many a passenger pause on the return trip!

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Snow and falling rock closed the road with some frequency…and the endlessly twisting road was never a joy to drive in the dark.

All this changed with the announcement that Vancouver was getting the Olympics. Work began on the new Sea-To-Sky Highway, with its extra lanes and added security features.

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Now it is a joy to drive, although still challenging in the winter, and the scenery is quite stunningly beautiful. It was a wonderfully moody day, weather-wise, when we went, and my camera seemed always to be pointing at the sky, torn as it was between sun and cloud...
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I’m posting my favourites for this week’s ‘Looking At The Sky Friday’, graciously hosted by CrAzY Working Mom at the link below. Do stop by for skies that will inspire!
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http://www.crazyworkingmom.com/
I have also put a few Whistler photos on my main blog, ‘Imagination Lane’, for the ‘Project Genesis’ forum. If you would like to check these pics out or learn more about the eco-friendly ‘Project Genesis’, do follow this link:

http://imaginationlane.blogspot.com/2010/08/project-genesis-iii.html

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Sedona Skies

I am in love with Sedona,



where endless skies stretch on forever to form the perfect backdrop for peaks so brilliantly tinged with red that they take one's breath away.

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The skies are mercurial..from minute to minute they dazzle and change with the brilliance of every hue one can possibly imagine.
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Unlikely athough it seems, the photos on this page were taken over the course of a single overnight stay. To say one night was not enough is an understatement. Sedona's hills, her whisper-soft air and brilliant skies seem to me what heaven must be like.
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We are heading back to the
Southwest for an autumn trip...its lure

remains irresistable

to me.

My camera and I can hardly wait...
there are many more pictures to take!

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I am linking this post to Looking At The Sky on Friday, graciously hosted by CrAzY Working Mom at the link below. Do stop by for skies that inspire!

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http://www.crazyworkingmom.com/

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Head In The Clouds

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I'm told my head is often in the clouds.

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Usually, this is said in a fond way...but on occasion, it is clearly meant to bring me down to earth when I'm off in my own world of imagination. I do know the real world must be dealt with. Jobs, children, laundry...all must be addressed with a sense of responsibility and attention to detail. If pressed, I can truthfully lay claim to being conscientious in my roles of wife, mother and working woman.

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But it's also true that I'm fanciful, forgetful and easily distracted. I spend an inordinate amount of time gazing at clouds or lost in books...and I truly believe that daydreaming is essential to the soul.
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Balancing the dreamer in me with the competent adult has its challenges and I struggle to take care of both.

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I will happily

continue to nurture my family and pull my weight in the world. I am loved, needed and appreciated in what I do. My life is a good one.

But I cannot..will not..neglect the free spirit who still becomes breathless at the sight of snow, and gets absurdly lost in thought, even in the midst of crowds.

I need her too much..need her wonder and optimism, her childlike ability to get up again when she falls and continue on anticipating the best. She is the balance in my life.
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So if you catch me with that faraway look in my eyes, don't be overly concerned.

Give me a moment to dream, if you will..just a moment. I'll come back refreshed, recharged and ready to take on the busy world once more.

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I promise it will be worth the wait...

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All photos above are of the big skies of Africa.

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I'm linking this post to http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Stop by for a visit and a view of skies from all over the world!