Down...

I love clouds. There is something amazing about watching a thunderhead boil into the summer sky, knowing that rain is on the way. The contrast between the bright white and brilliant blue of the summer sky is beautiful, powerful and inspiring.

But every once and a while I get to see clouds in a different way.

Instead of the flat bottom of the point of view we all normally see, the clouds take on an entirely different character from above.

It's a landscape that changes in moments as you zoom by, with mountains ranges as transient and ephemeral as their earthly cousins are solid.

You can find yourself in the midst of a forest of cumulus towers punching holes through higher, thinner clouds,

... or looking down on rolling hills set among flat planes with only clear sky above, while you wonder that those clouds you thought were so high up now seem so low, their shadows playing gracefully across the surface, creating patterns and shapes as fascinating as the clouds themselves.

I'll always love flying amongst the clouds. They can look so solid...

...yet you could pass right through them.

So I'll keep my eyes looking skyward when I'm on the ground, looking for the play of nature in all her glory.

But when I'm flying, I'll be looking down instead of up. Because those are the times when I can see the clouds from an entirely different perspective. One that's as unique and ever changing as the days themselves.