10 Clouds

Since the days I used to fly thru the clouds I especially like the cumulonimbus clouds that develop vertically, when they do not blanket the entire sky and it is possible to see clearly their straight base and their shooting peaks in varying formations. Next to their brilliant whiteness, the sky seems all the more blue. Our skies are free of clouds a large part of the year, and in the summer the sun is so strong that it seems as if the sky is white.
The development of the cumulonimbus clouds is somewhat difficult to ascertain from the ground, and commercial airplanes fly rapidly above them to steady themselves at high altitude, from where the clouds look like an ambiguous carpet. But when you fly at cloud level – their vertical development can extend thousands of feet – the large clusters resemble gigantic cotton mountains, and the sun shinning above them gives these clouds a plastic quality that creates the illusion that they are made of solid matter. Flight between masses of such clouds in a small swift plane that enables observation of their forms – to climb above them and then dive in between them – is an experience that defies description. It is a long time already since I flew a plane, and I do not miss the experience generally. But when I see these clouds in the sky, the desire to fly to them and through them, overcomes me. Look at them above the tile roof and the tops of the cypress trees, they look like whipped cream. They send me greetings from long ago and I smile at them in return.