Clouds, Nature's Poetry

Off to Bali again. This time to prepare and present our design for a meeting of changemakers who have been receiving support from ACCESS. Arrived at a good time at the airport, and as usual, strolled by Periplus at Cengkareng airport.

As much as I try NOT to buy a book, somehow there is always a book that manages to call out to me. This time, it was a book entitled "The Cloudspotters Guide". I immediately picked it up, thinking of a conversation I had recently had with Ibu while we were both in the car looking out at a spectacular sky. Blue and cloudless on one side, fluffy white clouds in the middle, and dark ominous clouds building up and threatening to rain. Ibu said, "It always took me a while to see what others were seeing in clouds..."

I, on the other hand, have always created elaborate stories while gazing at clouds. I remember once seeing a chariot being pulled by horses, with a god riding high...other times I'd imagine that the ray of sunshine peeking through the clouds was the door to the heavens. And recently, when my aunt was on her deathbed and no longer able to speak, I saw her look out the window, at the sky...and as a ray of sunshine peeked through the parting of clouds, a soft smile spread across her face and her eyes lit up.

So this book - I swear it jumped up and down to catch my attention! - was something I just HAD to buy. Reading its back cover, it says, "...clouds are nature's poetry..." and if you look at these two pictures below that I took from The Cloud Appreciation Society's website (yes! they have a website! www.cloudappreciationsociety.org), I think you'd agree...


quite simply...

stunning!