2005-07-17 – But Wait! There’s More!
This city is simply remarkable. More than anything else, though, is the weather. In the half hour that’s lapsed since my last entry, the blue sky has given way to a crackling thunderstorm.
Nature seems to possess a great deal of power here. It almost feels like a sentient force. To gaze at the clouds, they move and change shape in a way that makes them seem alive. At any time, if there are any clouds in the sky at all, there seem to be several different types, all layering over one another. There are the cumulous, puffy and carrying heavy blue shadows in all of their folds. The cirrus clouds wisp out above them, with much softer edges that fade into the sky. The nimbostratus slip into view from the horizon almost without warning, rolling across with fury and unleashing thunder and lightning and torrential rain, then vanishing as quickly as they came.
As a result, the sunsets here are unbelievably gorgeous. The window in my apartment faces the West, so I do cannot watch the sun rising over the Sandia mountains, but I do have the benefit of seeing the sky burst into flames every evening as the sun paints the clouds in glorious brilliant reds and oranges.
As tangible as the clouds, quick gusts of wind can pick up at a moment’s notice, whirling the orange dust about and depositing it on windows, on cars, in people’s eyes and hair. A storm will pull the dust down out of the air, and as the raindrops dry they leave an outline of dust in their stead.
Quite the opposite of New York, here the weather seems to dictate the people. Instead of standing fiercely opposed to the onslaught of nature, the buildings more respond to it, attempt to cooperate with it, as if realizing the futility of anything otherwise.
More as I am inspired. Hopefully coherence accompanies epiphany.
After much rain, the clouds parted while we visited the Circus of Maxentius, just outside the gates of Rome. While most people quickly sketched and shot photos of the ruins, I happened to glance skyward and saw a photo op.