" I've been so aware of the sky ", said Nancy
"The sky here is part of the geography," I replied.
I told her that the same was true in Kenya Often it seemed that the sky extended and curved beyond the horizon such that you felt you could actually sense the curve of the earth. That arc of sky -- ever present, vast, encompassing, changing, dramatic -- part of the geography.
I spend a lot of time looking at the sky when I am in Africa. I watch how thunderheads build and tower upward. I try to be outdoors at sunset -- a lady-in-waiting for an exuberance of color, a wash of wonder. I keep track of the phases of the moon.
On still nights I search the tossed rash of the Milky Way and anchor myself with the Southern Cross, try to find Scorpio. When I was a child we would stretch out on our lawn, close to my father. He pointed out the stars, named the constellations learned as a young man serving in the Navy, surviving the boredom and horror of war.
On still nights I search the tossed rash of the Milky Way and anchor myself with the Southern Cross, try to find Scorpio. When I was a child we would stretch out on our lawn, close to my father. He pointed out the stars, named the constellations learned as a young man serving in the Navy, surviving the boredom and horror of war.
Back in Durham, North Carolina, huge trees in my garden block much of the sky. Occasionally I'll catch a glimpse of sunset-reddened clouds or perhaps a swollen moon between branches. It will be like a treat, a small sweet sip of surprise -- nothing like the full-on heady presence of the skies I photograph in Africa.
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| still quite far from our car --by this point we were running |
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| mini rain falls from each cloud |
The sky's the limit.
Perhaps not. Perhaps, in its variety, it is limitless
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