ReluctantFarmChick.com

Happy Skywatch Friday.  And an especially happy New Years to all my skywatch friends.  This has been a fun thing for me this year - and I appreciate your kind visits and comments.

The weather finally cooperated on Sunday.  My brother checked the weather and deemed it acceptable for flying.  And really, it was perfect.  I won’t spill all the fun beans on one post, but here were the highlights.

There’s my pond . . . that little puddle near the tree line.  Pretty wild, huh?  And the barns look like Monopoly houses.  This was so much fun.

When we weren’t farming we used to spend LOTS of time here - at the lake.  The water is low because the lake is used to generate electricity in the winter time.  During the summer it fills up (provided there is not a drought) and it’s a wonderful play place.  The dock nearest the center of the picture is the family lake house.  We all share it - and can play on the water any time we want.  It’s about 45 minutes away from where we live (by windy roads).

This characterizes the area pretty well - lots of rolling hills/mountains.  Very little is cleared. 

I loved being in the plane - my brother is an amazing pilot who was very generous with his time and resources. 

Hope your skies are clear and your 2009 is beautiful.  You can see other skies from all over the world by visiting here.

My biggest Farm Regret is not being able to travel.  There’s always so much to do.  Since I’ve been doing Skywatch Friday it has occured to me that even though I’m sitting in one place here on the farm, the earth is rotating and spinning, so I’m actually getting to see skies from all over - these skies have seen the parts of the earth that I’m yearning to visit.  It has become a fun thing for me to imagine what my skies have seen as they’ve "passed over" other people and places.  Just a bit of whimsy as I share the clouds from Gredemeer this week.  Happy Skywatch Friday!

You might not be able to see it very clearly, but there is almost a "pillar of cloud" in this shot:

The reflection of these clouds in the pond makes it look like there are ripples in the water:

These clouds looked extra fluffy against the very blue sky:

Same day as the above shot - just an additional set of texture here.  It’s amazing how quickly the cloud formations and textures change.  The "naked" mountain top on the right has been strip-mined for coal.  When they are done they have to introduce plants back to make it "natural" again. . . there’s a term for this, but it’s not coming to me at this insomniac moment.  Maybe "reclaimed"?

You can see clouds (and other skies) from all over the world by visiting here.  You can play along too, and share your skies, which may very well have flown over Gredemeer some time in the not too distant past!

It’s so much fun watching clouds.  The clouds I captured for this Skywatch don’t really have any very obvious wabbits or elephants or planes, but they’re still cool.  Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.  These clouds are all over my farm (not all-over as in ended, but they were all taken over the farm ).  There’s lots of sky around here.  I feel badly for people who have less sky than me.  Come over and enjoy my sky any time you want.

You can see more cloud pictures (and other sky images) from all over the world here