Sometimes the Sky is Just on Fire

Sometimes the Sky is Just on Fire ©Lynne Buchanan

Sometimes the sky is just on fire.  I was riding my mountain bike out in Barre Hammock and it was 95 degrees and I was sick of the heat, but I just had to get out.  Being trapped in air conditioning day in and day out can get to a person after awhile.  Don't get me wrong, I am glad I have it, but after awhile I feel like I am living in some strange bubble and I start to feel like I am losing touch with the earth.  The other day, I said to myself, "That's it.  I'm going out and if it rains on me what the heck and if its boiling I'll live."  I loaded up my bike, threw it in the back of my Subaru and headed out to Barre Hammock.  I chose this location because it is up on a man made earthen dike, so you are above ground level.  We have had so many flooding rains this summer that I had to wear wellington boots to get to my yurt.

I started riding and there were a few clouds clumped together and more and more kept attaching themselves.  I stopped in a few places to take reflections of the clouds in the ponds that had formed, but it was the clouds themselves that kept calling me.  By the time I rounded the corner with the hut and bench rest area, this is what I was blessed to witness.  I loved how it was so dark and stormy in the center, with the lighter clouds around the edges, and then there was that surreal blast of light at the bottom.  It was truly ethereal, like some kind of light presence was being jettisoned into this reality.

Clouds are my thing.  I am dangerous to drive with.  One of my sons is always telling me, "Please mom, keep your eyes on the road."  But I see clouds and my imagination runs rampant.  I am so fascinated with their appearance and what shape they might take next that once I see I cloud formation, I can hardly stop watching it.  I actually have to tell myself out loud to pay attention to where I am.  So you know I pay attention to clouds, and I have to say I have never seen anything like that funnel of light at the bottom.  Sometimes the clouds are just on fire...