Sitting in the swing making notes for tonight’s writing. Oldest brother is picking me up shortly to go to his granddaughter’s birthday party. Hard to believe that beautiful sweet baby is celebrating her 12th birthday. The day is so pretty, blue sky dotted with cotton boll clouds, warm sunshine. Looks like a birthday party day. The wind is boisterous when it blows across the porch, banging out loud harsh symphonies from the wind chime pipes. I think the wind chime tintinnabulations are hurting Penelope’s ears. She wants to go in the house. Kat is sleeping soundly. Nothing disturbs her siestas.

The old oak has finally dressed his green leaves in their yellow tutus and the ballerinas are rushing around in the wind, pirouetting down from the high branches, softly landing on the acorn blanketed grass. Acorns harshly jerked by the wind from their branches are dropping on the tin roof next door. Makes me think of the movie, Gunfight at the O.K. Coral. I love a western movie.

The drive to my niece’s house was so beautiful. The sun was filtering down through the autumn leaves on the trees lining the country road, the golds and reds and oranges so prettily highlighted by the sun’s rays. “Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the tree.” Faith Baldwin’s quote capturing the scene perfectly. So does Jim Bishop’s quote, “Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons.”

I looked out their kitchen window as the sun set and could see thin line clouds watercolored by Mother Nature’s brushes, layers of aqua and pink watercolors fading as twilight swept across the forested hillside, the evening’s gloaming so beautiful up in the high hills. As dark fell across that magnificent sky, Father Sky kissed the sun goodnight and threw handfuls of stars from his velvet bag of diamonds high up in the navy night sky where they’ll hold on till the sun begins to rise.

Been cloud watching today. Clouds are really magical, moist air that morphs and changes, provides life and water, helps cool and warm the earth. And at day’s end and day’s beginning the clouds are painted in vivid and pastel pale watercolors that could only come from God and Mother Nature’s palette and paint brushes. We are like the clouds on our journey through life. We morph and change with God’s handiwork. He colors our lives and we float down the path he’s chosen for us. We bump and crash and rock along on our journey. Change is constant with clouds and we’re in constant change with the flow of life. Clouds add color to the sunset. I hope I add color to someone’s sunset.

I think we can choose to be a cotton boll cloud, round and full, enjoying the journey, the changes life brings, happily kissed by the light, or we can choose to be a storm cloud, knowing rain will come along, filling us with anger, making us disgruntled as we morph and change. But all of us should look for the “bow in the sky,” as God says in Genesis, knowing God’s love will help us weather the storms. He doesn’t always promise smooth sailing but he does promise rainbows. Imagine heaven’s view of a rainbow!

Sanjay Sazzad said, “The more clouds you have in your sky, the more colorful sunset will be.” If family and friends are clouds we should have beautiful sunsets everyday as we travel through life. I think the light that shines from the top of the rounded clouds is a smile from God. I always think the clouds that are so white on their crowns are kissed by the sunshine but they might be illuminated by God’s love. He exists in the light of the world.

It’s so calming to watch the clouds float along in the sky. I’ve watched them all day perched in the swing. Clouds can teach us patience as we watch their journey across the heavens, waiting to see what shapes they change into. Clouds teach us to slow down and live in the moment. We race so fast through our skies in life we don’t enjoy the journey and before we know it our race is over. We’re at the finish line with regrets. I’ve said this many times, don’t dwell on the past and don’t worry about the future, enjoy and live each day well.

The most beautiful cloud formations in our lives come during the most mundane every day happenings. We don’t know these are the rainbows in our skies till they have faded away. I love that Charlie Chaplin said, “You’ll never find a rainbow if you’re looking down.” We should always keep our eyes on God.

Fluffy white clouds make us feel good and give us hope. Storm clouds blow in and scare us but God is with us in the storms and the sun will eventually peep through the gloom. You just have to have faith to wait out the thunder. You realize there is never a cloud so dark that it blots out the sun. The sun is always shining above the clouds. There are not any clouds in our lives dark enough to diminish God’s love.

“God puts rainbows in the clouds so that each of us, in the dreariest and most dreaded moments, can see a possibility of hope.” — Maya Angelou