This was the the scene when I turned to the Indian Peaks webcam last night. The camera is positioned on a ridge above Nederland, Colorado, 15 miles west of Boulder. As magnificent as these particular peaks are (seven of them exceed 13,000 feet), the sky was dominant last night, and I was reminded again of a favorite passage:
The sky was as full of motion and change as the desert beneath it was monotonous and still — and there was so much sky, more than at sea, more than anywhere else in the world. The plain was there, under one’s feet, but what one saw when one looked about was that brilliant blue world of stinging air and moving cloud. Even the mountains were mere ant-hills under it. Elsewhere the sky is the roof of the world; but here the earth was the floor of the sky. The landscape one longed for when one was away, the thing all about one, the world one actually lived in,
was the sky, the sky!— Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop
Although Cather was writing about New Mexico, her words have always brought to mind the vast Great Plains where I grew up.
Until last night.
Last night the peaks were the floor of the sky.
As I’ve noted in the past, this particular webcam view refreshes every 60 seconds, and I watched for maybe 15 minutes as the sun dropped lower behind the mountains and the clouds rearranged themselves.
I find sunsets very calming. Their beauty provokes thought and wonder, distracts from the day’s stress, erases the sun’s harsh glare, and eases one gently into the quietude of evening.
Nature is a gift, there to see for those who look. I marveled at the fresh, cool air this morning as I took my morning walk. Even though it’s late August, it was 62 degrees! Earth’s weather is undergoing rapidly, though. I think future generations will look back and envy ours.
There’s a lot of wisdom in the current dictum “touch grass.”
We, too, are reveling in the cool weather and promised moisture. It’s 1:19 pm here, and just 71 degrees. Amazing. I fear the last year or two, with all the horrible fires, storms, floods, heat, melting glaciers, etc. is the new norm — on the way to even more extremes. Mostly human caused. Yes, I worry a lot about the future for my grandkids and beyond.
how stunning!
Hard to go wrong with a view like that.
Wonderful, astounding, stunning view! I have more superlatives if you’d like!
Sadly I don’t have a webcam view which refreshes every 60 seconds, but I’ve come close snapping the shutter at various intervals times I got to watch the sun set over the Pacific. . Pity I don’t get out to do that more often these days.
You’ve posted many glorious photos of the ocean and your picturesque coast. Everything I’ve always imagined Oregon to be. I have to rely on webcams here because I don’t drive much anymore and don’t have a mountain view from my house. I got lucky with this screenshot, though sad knowing much of the color was probably due to smoke from the many fires burning in western Colorado.
I remember some phenomenal skies when I lived in Utah. Clouds and sunsets in the mountains easily match those over the ocean. I only wish I might have taken more photos back in that bit of my life, but there were other things to keep me busy back then. I don’t drive at all these days because of slower reflexes and vision problems, but at least I’m within walking distance of our fantastic ocean views. Not a ad trade. Thank goodness for webcams! 🤩
Absolutely! And for sure I need a way to check and make sure those mountains are still out there.
I love the Cather quote; she describes it so perfectly.
Yep. She described it in truly memorable terms. I’ve never read the book. I just want to embrace and enjoy this one passage.
And you can really use that slowing down …
Absolutely. That’s usually why I start checking out those webcams in the first place.