click on photo to enlarge

click on photo to enlarge

I was driving home BY MYSELF last week and saw this sunset developing,  It was not spectacular yet.  I got home and watched a little more.  After a while, I decided to drive to a spot to get some good pictures.  It is not often that I have the freedom to just go somewhere and take pictures.  (Sunsets happen at bedtime, and although Prince Charming takes care of bedtime for the girls, I still need to be there most of the time for my part–song for each, hug and kiss–in the nightly ritual.) 

So I drove, with my dog, because there was thunder in the distance, and he did not want to be left home alone.  (After we got there, I think he wished I had left him.)  After parking, I spent the next 15 or 20 minutes slowing spinning in circles, taking pictures in every direction.  I was in the middle of an amazing view.  There were vibrant colors in every direction.  There were storm cells with lightning in two directions.  There was rain falling (but usually not hitting the ground–the darkness in the foreground of the sky in this picture is rain) in several directions.  I had 12 pictures left on my memory card when I was finished. 

What to pick?  I picked one of the last ones, not because it was the most spectacular, but because it does not really look real.  This picture does not look real to me, but it did not look any more real when I was out there.  It was even LESS real there because I could see the entire scope of sky.

I love New Mexico skies!

To see LOTS more terrific sky pictures,  head to the SkyWatch blog hosted by Tom, Sandy , Imac and Klaus. 

by Louise Cannon