I couldn't describe it myself but I think I imagined something at least
as beautiful as you described. A great shot even though verbal. :-)
Chuck Norcutt
Bob Whitmire wrote:
> On Aug 13, 2010, at 12:15 AM, Moose wrote:
>
>> On 8/12/2010 7:13 AM, Bob Whitmire wrote:
>>> Nice shots. We've got a sky full of those this morning. I had a
>>> religious experience with clouds yesterday afternoon,
>> Ooooooh! How nice.
>>
>>> and, as with so many such, no camera to hand.<g>
>> It would only capture the clouds, not the experience.
>>
>>> But that's a story for another day. Besides, I'm not sure I could
>>> put it into words.
>> The common problem with those experiences. Still, if you try, I'd be
>> interested. Hmmm, I have a book you might enjoy ...
>
>
> Late afternoon, Nobleboro Athletic Field, just off Route 1 north of
> Damariscotta. I was facing east. The clouds were moving out of the
> west toward the east, thus coming in from behind me and seeming to
> vector (?) on infinity out in front of me. The ground slopes away from
> my location to the end of a pond, which, in any other state, would be
> a lake. Cool breeze off the water, but that's beside the point.
>
> The occasion was bocce. The agency I work for, which provides support
> services to the mentally handicapped, sports a Special Olympics team,
> and the team practices twice a week year round. Sometimes it's
> walking, sometimes it's running, sometimes it's skiing and
> snowshoeing. In high summer, it's bocce (a Special Olympics sport).
>
> Roughly 25-30 people present, about two-thirds clients of the agency,
> one third support staff and SO volunteers. I'm suffering mild
> tendonitis in my right hip, so I wasn't playing, but rather was
> ensconced in a lawn chair facing the courts. The particular cloud in
> question was at my one o'clock. Shaped like a hamburger bun edge-on,
> with burger tucked in, one bite taken out of the middle. Mostly
> varying shades of white, with some dark gray here and there. I think
> the dark gray was actually at a different altitude.
>
> Lots of texture, changing slowly as the cloud moved away from me. The
> religious experience came as I considered the light at the point of
> the large bite. I don't believe I've ever seen such a brilliant white--
> pure, for sure, but without being blown out. Radiant, but I was able
> to stare right into it without my eyes hurting, or trying to dodge
> away. By all the gods that were or ever may be--and I am a confirmed,
> rock-solid agnostic in the classic sense--I swear someone had left the
> gate open, perhaps unattended, and I was staring directly into
> Paradise. It mesmerized me. I couldn't look away. As the sun dropped
> lower behind me, the light began to change, the white to take on
> warmer, more subtle hues, but still more radiant that English has the
> capacity to describe.
>
> I watched until finally whomever was in charge of the gate recovered
> sufficient wits to drop the curtain, and in a blink it was just
> another lovely cloud drifting magesticsally toward the horizon, slowly
> evaporating into the atmosphere.
>
> AND NOT ANOTHER LIVING SOUL AMONG US HAD NOTICED!
>
> No one. Nothing. I kept trying to call attention to what was going on
> overhead, but nothing came out and no one else noticed. They just kept
> playing bocce like there was nothing above us but blue sky unto
> eternity.
>
> I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Not sure if I'd had a
> camera I would have been able to lift it and click the shutter. Not
> sure any film or any sensor could have rendered that radiance
> faithfully.
>
> Makes me think sometimes you're not supposed to try to take the
> picture. It's enough that you notice.
>
> --Bob Whitmire
> www.bobwhitmire.com
>
>
--
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