May 2022
May 2nd
We report: this is one silent ship sailing across the sky, to the East. We see everything in its shadow meet an early night, plunged into obscurity. This was a dry day, rather warm, and the sunset is revealing a sudden humidity in the air which brings about a chill.
May 1st
We report a rather large cloud made up of countless, much smaller clouds. Come to think of it, perhaps most clouds fit that description, but this one did provoke that line of thought to begin with.
May 4th
We report: we looked out the window, expecting it to be fully night by now, but there was this whole corner of the sky that was still illuminated, between a roof and a tree. We took a moment to appreciate those last minutes of daylight, faint as it was.
May 3rd
We report that we found company along the way today. This is perhaps rude to say as we were already with company (our expert), but we bring our expert with us wherever we go. These birds are all in the process of flying away anyway.
May 5th
We report cirrus fibratus, a blur of icy clouds, like a long exposure picture of the flow of a river. The sun is shining bright and has us squinting every time we step outside - it stays high in the sky for a long while lately.
May 7th
We report, in a storm, a crystallisation of unspoken desires, in the crackles, the sound and light show that we were involuntary witnesses to. We have longed for a climactic moment, something to disrupt the tension, and the Sun has not been helpful in that.
May 6th
We report: we were here last year, last month, last week, and even yesterday, and it was a different place every time. The sky went through highs and lows, the trees grew, there were waves and then the lake got quiet. And here we are, different but the same.
May 11th
We report a heavy sky, the whole day through, and yet, not a raindrop to be seen. There was that dim light that we usually know means rain; we kept getting close to the windows, squinting at the clouds that looked dense enough to burst. Perhaps it will rain tomorrow.
May 8th
We report: easy clouds, risen all the way from under the ground. All the sweeter for the wind carrying smells of spring, the soil, the trees, and the rain that had fallen in the morning. All the sweeter for how we were here and there was more time to stay here for a little bit.
May 9th
We report that we are just a few days past the peak of the Eta Aquariids, which are associated with Halley's Comet. The comet is not anywhere near enough for us to see it (at least, not for another forty years or so), but we think fondly of it, speeding through the universe.
May 21st
We report: we lived a whole day through, and when it came to an end, the sky started burning away at the edges. We sat helplessly, watching it turn shades of brown and orange from the fire that ran through from the East to the West.
May 10th
We report: the sunrise is just about to appear out of the morning fog - as quiet as it looks, the countryside is being quite rambunctious for this dawn. There are birds making all sorts of noises, and the tall grass is rustling as we walk. Also, our expert is talking our ear off.
May 12th
We report: we have been posted on top of a hill since sunrise, tasked with counting every single cloud of the day. This is cloud number one. It is almost stationary. It is small. There does not seem to be any sign of more clouds coming in. We are considering sleeping on the job.
May 13th
We report: we are getting to the time of the year when the sky becomes very, very tall. Maybe there is a little bit of us getting smaller, but mostly, we stand there at the feet of giants, helpless, as they bloom upwards and outwards.
May 14th
We report that the sky is brighter than it has been all day, minutes before nightfall. We could wonder — really, what use is this, what are we going to do with this extra bit of light now? We think, well, nothing much. This is just a sweet thing for this day.
May 15th
We report: below the path we are walking along, there is a pond filled with frogs that we could hear from a long way, loud and clear in the dusk. We can barely see where we are walking at this point, so we are holding on to our expert's shoulder as we try to find our way home.
May 16th
We report: it is early, and cold, and humid, too. We severely misjudged the weather when we left home, and we are dressed all wrong; the wind is picking up, and we think we even got a raindrop in our left eye. This is all fine, though. Nobody is forcing us to be out there, today.
May 17th
We report, today, like most other days, that it is all about colours. It was all about blue, blue, blue all day, and when we saw the red come in, we thought it would all be about purple tonight. But the colours kept on coming, dense and vibrant; lit up the whole sky.
May 18th
We report: conditions uncertain, the whole sky is torn apart - the wind? Surely not, at least there is very little wind to feel from down here. We are trying to figure out what is happening up there exactly, but the clouds are already melting away, losing their intricate shapes.
May 19th
We report: we lay down in the grass on a hill, fell asleep, and woke up to find the sky in the wrong direction. We are having a hard time making the decision to get up. This seems like a good time to practise our ability to do nothing.
May 20th
We report that, lately, we have been looking to the sky to convince ourselves of the inevitability of change. Or rather, perhaps, of the good that may come out of it. It is good, we think, when the sky is different. And it is good even when we wanted it to stay the same.
May 22nd
We report, these days, we look for the moon in the morning, first thing to appear from behind the clouds long before the sun rises. In fact, we could be looking for the moon at three in the morning, but we are not available at three in the morning, because that is when we sleep.
May 23rd
We report: spring has been drier than expected, so far, and as we inch further into it, we relish dark skies and petrichor. From the drizzle to the showers and thunderstorm rains, we look downwards, hoping that the ground will drink it all and keep it there.
May 24th
We report, sometimes, we do get lost in the clouds, and there really is no way home to be found. Frankly, today, there is nowhere we would want to be but lost there, with the last sun rays trying to find a path in and around the clouds.
May 25th
We report: the ferns have gotten tall on the hill, and some of the paths that we walked during the winter are no more, swallowed by the overgrowth. Others have opened in the tall grass, and we went to explore them in the still-long shadows of the morning. There was a lot of dew.
May 26th
We report, though sunsets do not seem to be stretching any longer than usual, the nights seem to take forever to settle, lately. There is a tinge of blue that remains in the dark of the night, and we can clearly see many of the clouds over the stars.
May 27th
We report: today was very bright, maybe no more than the other days, but we certainly noticed how we kept getting sunshine in our eyes. We would close them and see the sun through our eyelids still. We never seemed to find shadows to walk into, followed by sunshine everywhere.
May 28th
We report: we can almost hear colours that are this loud. And this time, when we try to describe them to our expert over the phone, we choose words carefully, and though we inevitably fail to express the subtleties of this colour spectrum, we try again and again.
May 29th
We report a windy day, out in the countryside the smell of flowers is heady and fills every bit of the air that we are breathing. When we walk in the woods, trying to keep our steps light so as to avoid scaring the birds, we hear songs bouncing from one branch to another.
May 30th
We report: low skies and a steel grey, a few showers throughout the day. This is a part of spring that we do not think of as much, but these days, when the sun is a rare sight, and the smell of earth lingers in the air, feel like a good place to stop and rest for a while.
May 31st
We report walking along a gravel road at nightfall, and though the day was warm - hot even when the sun was high, now that sky is getting dark, the air is getting cold with it. We are walking faster while keeping an eye on the horizon, and there are pebbles lining our shoes now.