Solstice Sky

I was up on the top of the moor to watch the dawn on our shortest day, but all we had was a faint red glow in the narrow gap between the land and a dark sky.

watching the glow ~ of a solstice dawn ~ light ~ easing back ~ the darkness

It soon cleared though, and thereafter we've had a day of ever changing clouds, driven into dramatic shapes by the high winds.

strong december winds ~ carving deeply into clouds ~ cheeks cold as marble

This was one of the stunning shapes that appeared over the moor as the afternoon wore on, but clouds are ephemeral, and half an hour later it looked like this. I've put a full set of the formation and dissipation of this cloud over a few hours here.

They made such a show, that even the local news made a feature of them, along with a gallery of images. You should also check out @PaulFS who has kindly curated all of today's Bradford District cloud blips onto one page, including his own fine contribution.

I've got better pictures of just the cloud and the moor, but I like the foreground on this one, as although it's messy, it brings out the quality of the solstice light on our garden wall. And not for the first time, you have shadows from our washing line.

solstice clouds ~ carved like stone ~ aeolian erosion