The Free Press, Mankato, MN - ‘Ice cream castles in the air’

Sun, Jul 05 2009

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Clouds catch the last warm rays of the setting sun.
John Cross / The Free Press

The wind-swept anvil tops of storm clouds hold the promise of a drink of rainfall for a Nicollet County cornfield.
John Cross / The Free Press

A “feathered canyon” of forming storm clouds is back lit by the sun.
John Cross / The Free Press

Published August 31, 2008 11:10 pm - Way back in the 1960s, Judy Collins sang of clouds as “rows and floes of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air.”

‘Ice cream castles in the air’

By John Cross
The Free Press

Way back in the 1960s, Judy Collins sang of clouds as “rows and floes of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air.”

Is there anyone out there who hasn’t sprawled in the grass and gazed skyward at what Collins referred to as “feathered canyons,” daydreaming at the changing forms and varying colors as they sweep across the sky on a summer breeze?

From purely a meteorological viewpoint, clouds are merely condensed masses of moisture. But they also are a window into the varying moods of nature, particularly in Minnesota with its veritable theater of seasons.

And against the blank, blue canvas of a summer sky, an ever-changing seasonal art show free for the viewing.