canoe glides softly

canoe glides softly,

rippling the mare's tails reflected

in the placid lake

Good thing we took the canoe to our local lake instead of driving 4 hours to the Upper Iowa River or even 15 minutes to Cedar Creek. As soon as we stepped into the canoe, the long patch on the side started spurting water. The only way to get in some paddling was to take turns soloing, leaning to the left to keep the gray gorilla tape above water. John looks like he's paddling through mare's tails reflected in the water. Kevlar canoe needs some serious fiberglass repair!

The little gazebo by the lake sits amid a patch of buffalo grass turned orange in autumn.

Above, cirrus clouds morph into fantastic shapes -- fans, feathers, mare's tails. I love these clouds.

fiery cloud dragon

fiery cloud dragon

chasing the setting sun

into the maw of earth

Amazing sunset cloud dioramas during these late autumn days. One looks like a dragon with wings of fire chasing the golden orb. Another looks like a river of vermilion fire, while yet another looks like little wavelets on the ocean. Nature-made and man-made clouds combine to create an effect like the streaks and squiggles in stained glass. And in another scene, one layer of inky clouds is raining wispy virgas, while the layer below it is sending streaks of rain upwards. How strange is that?

stopping by a cornfield

stopping by a cornfield

on a hot summer evening

to watch the sunset,

crystalline clouds reflecting

gold, orange, red, then pink

In the low light of the setting sun, the corn is all golden -- tassels, dry yellow leaves, stalks and corn husks covering the hard golden kernels. The swirls of cirrus clouds above the sun look like stained glass, alabaster white and molten gold at first, then swiftly changing to burnished copper, burning ember.

In the south, the half moon floats at half mast between strands of cirrus fibratus that look like some ancient grandfather's wispy beard.

The sun turns into a golden urn as its light is distorted by the clouds.

Is that a dragon hovering above the sinking sun?

Like a flare, the sun shoots up a column of gold as the light reflects from the crystals in the high-flying cirrus clouds.

After the sun has disappeared below the horizon, its lingering light turns the clouds in the east cotton candy pink.