Oyster Pearl Skies

Winter, like road trips, always lasts a bit longer than you want. The first few flakes of snow were charming, and the crown of snow on nearby Ben Ratha is picturesque. Now, however, the grass is crunchy with hoar frost, I had to scrape my car windows three times yesterday, and my feet are cold. Despite this litany of whinging, however, I managed to discover a whole new skyscape as I drove home yesterday.

The day started cold but clear, warmed into a clear, warm-in-the sun afternoon, and then the sky filled in and sent swirls of large, wet flakes of snow in showers between Thurso and the farm. One stretch of the road would be snow covered and darkened by a cloud overhead, and then, the next bend would be clear. On the back road, inland, rather than along the coast, I noticed sheep sitting placidly in the snowy fields. Two tiny black lambs tottering after their mother looking discomfited by the snow beneath their feet stood out against the whiteness of sky and ground.

The white snow was doing its best to cool the warm tones of the spring sunlight. In some places it was succeeding, but most places seemed like the sheep sitting complacently on the whitened fields with a layer of snow on their backs--certain that this will soon pass. I take heart from their patience and in that instant I notice the sky above me is a rich mixture of sunset pink and golden orange using snow-filled clouds as a diffuser to mute the colours. The sun was a lustrous orange- pink pearl nestled into the seashell-coloured skyscape. The snow was sidelined by the skyscape. I rounded another bend toward home and the snow stopped altogether, but the pearlescent sky kept me company all the way home.