What's with the clouds, anyway?

I place an image of a cloud within each post.  Clouds are one of those things we don't pay nearly enough attention to.  When we were children we looked up at them and saw stories in their shapes.  As we get older, clouds mostly bring rain, or snow, or shade, or lightning, or fog.


We've all walked in clouds when it's been foggy.  Clouds don't look like much from the inside, do they?  I've had the privilege as a private pilot (alas, I no longer fly) to see clouds up close in their natural element.  You may have done the same in an airliner.  It's awesome.

I want to remind myself that there are places we can best go to in our imagination, even though they are very real places.  When those places sometimes come to visit us down here on the ground, it's not the same, because they lose their form to us; they hide more than they show.

It's also good to have something to concentrate on, to look at, to look for.  I've always seen clouds, but I've usually missed their nuances.  Making sure that I look up every time I look out the window or step outside helps to keep me mindful and observant:  two things a writer (or anyone else) should always be.