Thick clouds at sunset, thunderstorms at night, and a blanket of gray covering the sky from horizon to horizon at first light... Had I wished too vigorously for clouds, or was the local wish-granting genie in a mischievous mood? As I pondered these thoughts, with a bleary eyed Tadeh at my side wondering why he was up this early in the morning, the Sun finally broke through, briefly spreading light on a landscape as thirsty for color as it was for the water that the clouds refused to deliver... Photographed August 2021.
More and more of the sunrises we greet are tinted and tainted by smoke, more and more mornings smell like an untimely barbecue... If there ever was doubt that the detrimental effects of climate change have already arrived, then all one has to do is watch the Sun rise in Monument Valley and see the purple sheen of smoke from the scores of fires in California hundreds of miles away.
Even before night fell, the distant south rim of the Grand Canyon was being pummeled by a thunderstorm that hugged the edge of the canyon like a bird of prey with talons of lightning. Strike after strike illuminated the cloud bank that would eventually spread northward and cover the sky, but for more than an hour, our view was of the galaxy we call home, and the countless stars that vied for our attention. Days later, with many a wonder seen and experienced, my son Tadeh and I would both agree that this was the highlight of our road trip through the Southwest. Photographed August 2021.
