Cloud Appreciation

[dust]

I like clouds.

 

In the last year or two, especially, I've really begun to notice them, getting quite excited now and then by a particularly grand or unusual or colourful formation... and people around me have apparently noticed. Today, I was given a book called The Cloudspotter's Guide. So far I have read the introduction and 'manifesto' (of the Cloud Appreciation Society), and was moved to share it here before settling down to learn a little more about clouds.

 

From cloudappreciationsociety.org/manifesto/:

 

 

WE BELIEVE that clouds are unjustly maligned
and that life would be immeasurably poorer without them.

We think that they are Nature’s poetry,
and the most egalitarian of her displays, since
everyone can have a fantastic view of them.

We pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it.
Life would be dull if we had to look up at
cloudless monotony day after day.

We seek to remind people that clouds are expressions of the
atmosphere’s moods, and can be read like those of
a person’s countenance.

We believe that clouds are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul.
Indeed, all who consider the shapes they see in them will save money
on psychoanalysis bills.

And so we say to all who’ll listen:
Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and live life with your head in the clouds!

 

 

I would end with a cloud photo but I don't really have any. Perhaps others will be kind enough to share some photos. Your own, if you please, no copy-paste from Google etc.

 

 

Wei Wu Wei rules: Cloud appreciation only. No blue-sky thinkers please. That is all.

[AussieTrees]

Thankyou dustybeijing,

 

The best thing about clouds is rain.

We can't manage without it.

 

Could do with a drop,right now.

[dust]

Yes, I love the rain. It's been raining here today. Just a drizzle. Refreshing. People are donning their hats and waterproof coats, hunching their shoulders, leaping into their cars, hardly willing to be outside... I have been outside a couple of times, in shorts and a t-shirt, trying to soak up as much as possible.

Edited October 24, 2015 by dustybeijing

[Geof Nanto]

Everything about the ever changing weather patterns fascinates me; not only cloud formations but the whole show; wind, mist, rain and stillness itself.  I have The Cloudspotter's Guide and it's good but a little too much into identifying clouds for my liking. I prefer to watch them with wonder; my interest is more like that portrayed in the manifesto of the Cloud Appreciation Society you quote. 

 

It's coming into thunderstorm season where I live and these are true marvels to experience. My house is in an elevated position so I get an excellent view and can watch them rolling in from way off. 

 

 

 

 

[dust]

Wow! Stunning.

 

Yeah, cloud identification is kinda interesting but certainly not a necessary part of cloud appreciation. Actually learning all the categories we've created for them would take some of the wonder out of the whole experience, I imagine. I do enjoy some of the names, though -- cumulus, cirrus, nimbostratus...

 

As you say, weather itself is wonderful. Really, as with anything else, there's no clear separation between them all. I suppose mist and fog are just other categories of cloud; ones that we can walk through right on the ground.

 

 

Edited October 25, 2015 by dustybeijing

[dawei]

In my 20+ years of traveling, I still stare out the airplane window in wonderment... and wish I had started taking pictures all those years ago.

 

When I lived in Nebraska for a few years, I was taken away from the clouds out there... I think the change in scenery and slower life style made me really look upwards for the first time

[Geof Nanto]

I still stare out the airplane window in wonderment..

 

Me too! I remember the first time in a plane just watching the tops of the clouds with wonder for the whole flight.  With that marvel of nature there for all to see, I couldn't understand why the other passengers preferred to watch a movie. 

[soaring crane]

 

 

 

some cell phone photos where the clouds make it special :-)

[Geof Nanto]

Here are some photos taken from the veranda of my house. (The previous cloud photos I posted were not my own.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dust]

What a place to live! Wow.

 

The following photos don't contain quite so much majesty or beauty, but for something of a contrast (and true to my name...):

 

 

 

 

(I have always thought of these as 'sunset photos' rather than cloud photos, but they do illustrate why clouds might be preferable to a clear sky)

Edited October 26, 2015 by dustybeijing

[Horus]

I love clouds too Dusty!

 

In the last year of two I have apparently developed the ability to predict/see earthquakes coming in the cloud formations above my home.

 

It started with the Christchurch NZ quake, the clouds were in a special formation, all stacking up heading toward NZ.

 

This new gift reached its peak a few months ago...I had no experience for a while - and then the cloud formation came back - but this time it was building toward an epicenter off the QLD coastline - I pointed to where it was building.

 

I could feel the earth grid responding to ionic buildup in the sky - or vice versa.

 

The next day my whole house shuddered, windows banging - I just smiled and enjoyed the ride HAHAHA!

 

The epicentre of the quake was exactly where I pointed to...

 

Can you move the clouds with your mind yet, dusty?

 

 

[Horus]

Well, I'll be buggered https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_cloud

 

Is anything I think my own thought, or just others recycled?

 

Time for anew me thinks....

[Horus]

The ionospheric heating technology being used in international weather control experiments currently is making some very interesting clouds, huh?

[dust]

In the last year of two I have apparently developed the ability to predict/see earthquakes coming in the cloud formations above my home.

Well, I'll be buggered https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_cloud

 

Is anything I think my own thought, or just others recycled?

 

If it were me, I would consider it a good thing that there is some corroboration of my perceived ability -- outside evidence that it's not all in my head..

 

If you can predict these quakes with a good measure of precision and regularity, you could put the ability to wider use..?

 

 

 

Can you move the clouds with your mind yet, dusty?

 

Erm... no...

 

Let's say I could, though. Should I want to?

[AussieTrees]

We had the first rain this October,Halloween.

30mm in the rain gauge,happy with that.

 

Heaps of clouds,rain,lightening thunder,didn't stop the neighbours ducks waddling over to eat any seed left over from feeding birds.

Just before the storm broke,there was a crimson halo in the sky,only lasted about twenty seconds,got a few pics.

 

PS,every tree top seen in this photo we planted,my babies.

Edited October 31, 2015 by Aussie

[AussieTrees]

Beach clouds,and a moon phase.

 

Tried a few times,won't load,patience.

Edited November 3, 2015 by Aussie

[dust]

It's been thick fog here, and apparently all around the UK. I really like it. Walking through the clouds!

[Geof Nanto]

 

Lenticular clouds over Cape Town on November 8, 2015.

 

 

 

This Fallstreak Hole appeared over Korumburra in Gippsland, eastern Victoria.

 

 

A shelf cloud seen from Bondi Beach in Sydney.

 

 

 

The morning glory cloud forming over Sweers Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland.

[Basher]

All four photos are amazing !!

[dust]

They really are. The clouds seem to mimic other natural elements -- rocks, lake, waves.

 

I also love seeing distant clouds spread across the horizon that look like mountain ranges.

[Geof Nanto]

 

 

 

 

[AussieTrees]

 

Today's clouds.

[AussieTrees]

Try again.

 

Spot the UFO,bottom left.

Edited November 12, 2015 by Aussie

[Daeluin]

Oh yes. I love clouds, especially here in the mountains. As the sun sets the clouds creep into the valleys and cover the mountains like a blanket. Or they dance high above like mighty deities. Or have so many nuances I am left with no words.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Geof Nanto]

 

(I have always thought of these as 'sunset photos' rather than cloud photos, but they do illustrate why clouds might be preferable to a clear sky)

 

It’s taken me a while to respond, but when I read your comment connecting sunset and clouds it reminded me of some of the names of the women in Cao Xueqin’s classic 18^th century novel The Story  of the Stone. I’ve been reading the translation by David Hawkes and it’s interesting how he de-emphasises ‘cloud’ and emphasises ‘sun’ when he translates their names. For instance he translates the maid named Cai-xia (meaning: Colourful Red Cloud) as Sunset.

 

It made me wonder if cloud names are common for women in China. In the novel there’s also:

 

Qingwen  晴雯; Meaning: Fair Weather Cirrus. Hawkes translation: Skybright.

 

Cai-yun;  Meaning: Colourful Cloud. Hawkes translation: Suncloud.

 

Shi Xiangyun  史湘雲; Meaning: Xiang River Clouds

 

I very much like these names with their cloud images. I also like the way Ch'an poets use 'drifting clouds' as a metaphor for wandering monks. But I'm less enamoured when 'clouds' is used as a metaphor for obscuring thoughts that need to be cleared away to reveal the 'true' mind like a clear blue sky. 

 

According to an early Chinese saying recorded in the Hanshu, “When a tiger roars, the wind rises. When a dragon stirs, clouds gather".

Edited November 18, 2015 by Yueya