late summer sky

Summer's hazy white skies are giving way to more of these beautiful clear blue sky days with fluffy white clouds.  This is an afternoon photo of the field beside our house.

I like this view from an upstairs window especially well at this time of year.  The lower angle of the sun just lights up the landscape.

This picture is from a couple of days ago when storms were in the area...dark low clouds. 

In less than a minute, the sun broke through and lit up the field again.  

Below is a picture of a picture my brother, John, took out west.  It is much better in real life...my flash has washed out the color here. 

 There is so much to look at in his photo...the foreground with red dirt and green and yellow scrub brush...the sun lighting those brown flat topped hills (mesas? buttes?)...then in the background you can see a tall gray mountain with snowy peaks that are reaching to the clouds. The sky is deep blue, the clouds are fluffy white, and in the upper left you can even see a daytime moon!

It is one of my favorite landscape photos and he had this enlargement made for me.

I have it hanging by the window with my nice view of the field. That way, when it's dark outside, I still have a great view!