Thursday, July 10, 2008

The Texas Sky's the Biggest One I've Seen


That one line of Miranda Lambert's song has been hanging out in my head for a week now. I got to go home for the 4th of July and it was on this trip that I finally decided that Dallas might just be the best place on earth. Despite the ridiculous heat, one of the things I enjoyed most while being there was the weather. In correlation with that weather, the Texas sky made quite a display.

On one day of my visit, the blue expanse was littered with huge cumulus clouds that had been busily piling their tufts higher than you'd even think possible. And because there's not much to interfere with your scope of vision in my hometown, it was a perfect panorama of monstrous cottony formations.

One of the things I miss most about Texas is the summer thunderstorms. And the day before I headed back to LA, I got an unexpected gift. The sky, rather suddenly, turned that indescribable greeny-gray color that I have yet to see replicated anywhere else. The sun was just setting, so it cast that perfect evening light on the trees, creating a stark contrast between them and the darkening sky--almost as if the trees were stage props against a false backdrop. The gray mass of sky quickly moved in and swallowed the unassuming white clouds, the temperature dropped and the gorgeous thunder ensued. Those huge deliberate raindrops you'll never see in California were quick to follow. I was in heaven.



It's funny. Since I hadn't remembered how much I love the Texas sky, I hadn't remembered to miss it.