Head in the clouds - blessing or curse?

This week the World Meteorological Organisation published its latest International Cloud Atlas, the first update since 1987 - it got me thinking about cloud watching and daydreaming two of my favourite pastimes as a child.

Growing up in Africa with its big skies there was always plenty to see. I used to lie on my back and watch the clouds form shapes - dinosaurs, trains, wine glasses, dogs, elephants, grandma faces, .vintage cars, flying geese, no end to the imagery if you just hung around long enough and let your mind wander.... ,....

To me clouds are nature's way of communicating her moods - delicate cirrus the harbinger of fair weather, stratus the purveyor of mizzle and the sheer force of nature that is cumulonimbus.

To the list they have added 12 new clouds - my favourite, asperitas, reminds me of lumpy eiderdowns or is it pendulous folds of whipped cream? It is a cloud with tremendous depth, quite emotive

I digress. I wonder why it is that calling someone a daydreamer or telling someone that they have their head in the clouds should have such negative connotations.

Surely daydreaming has its place at the very heart of creativity. Without the ability to see beyond the physical, the here and now, one is subjected to a one dimensional, two at best, appreciation of the world and its workings.

Celebrate the daydreamers for it is they who think outside the square.

How does Asperitas make you feel? What does it remind you of?

Credit Gary McArthur Cloud Appreciation Society (member number 5353)

#clouds #daydreamers #asperitas #WorldMeteorologicalOrganisation #InternationalCloudAtlas