The Philosopher's Cloud (Revised June 26, 2025)

If all the World's

Wisdom

were written in the clouds...

who would be

the wiser?

***

The five cellphone photographs above document an interesting procession of low flying cumulus clouds passing over the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque on June 15th of this year.

Incidentally, this single line of clouds went on for miles and miles.

Text and photos: 2025, DS.

Flying North for the Summer - A Study of Clouds (revised, completed: June 12)

 

Flying North for the Summer - cellphone photo (filtered), Albuquerque - 2025, DS.

"At this point you are possibly saying, what on earth are you doing gazing at paintings of clouds in the sky when the earth is actually on fire? It’s an excellent question. But there is a difference between looking at the details of the universe that others insist are important– often at great profit to themselves – and looking at the details that move you on their own. They can be the same details. The important question is, which ones do you actually feel?"

"We spend so much time staring into our laps these days, looking desperately down into our smartphones and hungrily inhaling whatever the Internet has to offer. We live there now, down that dank, semi-real, untouchable and ultimately unknowable hole. But every once in a while, we forget it’s there, and look up."

- Two quotes from Canadian journalist Ian Brown's excellent, perennially relevant 2022 article: Paintings of clouds are just what the world needs right now. In the article, Brown features the Canadian landscape painters, The Group of Seven. Inset right is A Celebration (1924) by Georgia O'Keefe.

***

Link Update! Also see:

A Meditation on the Endless Appeal of Clouds in Art

Clouds in Art

Artistic depictions of Clouds (via Medium)

***

(Instead of taking photographs, these days I'm shooting short videos of clouds and exporting frames. This seemed like the best approach after a weird experience I had with a cumulonimbus cloud I wish I'd filmed... discussed recently on Mac's memorial in The Giant Awakens. Here lies the other half of that story...)

For an artist, working with clouds can be an illuminating experience. Working with an anomalous cloud, however - even if only documenting what you see with a digital camera - borders on the mystical realm. Something unexpected happens.

The first thing this artist discovered is that the lens was not recording the image exactly as I saw it. And I mean this beyond simplistic rationalizations such as faults with either a.) camera, b.) photographer. No, the clouds in the photographs rarely matched the clouds I saw from my perch on the balcony. It took me some time before I realized why.

(Continued below the jump...)

GrowIng Roses in the Clouds - A Safe Haven (revised and completed May 31)

 

Clouds clustering over the Sandia Mountains (in the distance), Albuquerque, May 19 - cellphone photo - 2025, DS.

"A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is generally a tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level, formally described in the International Cloud Atlas (2017) as silvagenitus ('created from forest')."

- A misty, moisty, mossy forest is the stuff of European folklore and fairy tales... bringing to mind a spooky sort of magic. The true cloud forests (via Wiki) - generally found on cloud-covered mountaintops -  are mostly a phenomenon of tropical climates but they can also be found in temperate zones. The Appalachian mountains are a stunning example. But, can they exist in the American southwest?

Large cluster over the Sandia Mountains, Albuquerque, May 26 - cellphone photo 2025, DS.

Probably not. But, I can dream... and I can wonder about the frequent cloud clusters that seem to stretch over the Sandia mountains, regardless of the weather. The photos above was taken during a bright respite after 2 days of rain but the Sandia cloud phenomenon was the first thing I noticed upon visiting New Mexico and it continued to amaze me all through my peak travelling days.

As for the cloudscapes - or cloud terrains - on top of the Sandia mountains, see the collection of photos linked to from this page, and see if you can find evidence of one. (There is!)

Large cluster over the Sandia Mountains, Albuquerque, May 26 - cellphone photo 2025, DS.

"Monteverde has unquestionably become one of Costa Rica's most popular draws, making it a must-do for 70,000 tourists each year. Its popularity is largely due to its many protected reserves, including the star of the show: the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve. Listed in National Geographic and Newsweek as one of the top cloud forest reserves in the world, the government even deemed it one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Costa Rica.

...Interestingly, its origins can be traced to Quakers who settled in the area in the 1950s. After fleeing the US to avoid the Korean War draft, the cool climate of Monteverde allowed them to set up dairy farms in the region."

- Via the article: Ultimate Guide to Monteverde: Costa Rica's Lost World. The photo of a suspension bridge inset left was found in the Wiki entry for the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve. Suffice to say, the world's cloud forests are allegedly vanishing... however, dreams of cloud cities begin to arise.

"Roses – native or naturalized wild roses, old roses (dating prior to the development of hybrid tea roses in 1867), and modern cultivars grow well in New Mexico. Perhaps you’ve admired them blooming in summer, in filtered light along mountain trails and in canyons, on abandoned homesteads or historic sites, and along irrigation ditches and streams, as well as in urban gardens."

- Excerpt from an illuminating article from the Santa Fe Botanical Garden. According to the article there are five species of wild roses native to New Mexico! The photo (Credit: Paul Rothrock) inset left is of an Asian, naturalized variety: Rosa multiflora. Allegedly, this beauty is considered an invasive species, but, in my estimation, if roses were invasive we would all live in paradise.

(Continued below the jump...)

Cinco de Mayo - the New Mexican Skies (revised & completed May 9)

Albuquerque clouds in May - cellphone photo - 2025, DS.

(Text added May 7)

This past Monday was Cinco de Mayo - the 5th day of the fifth month in the 25th year of the 3rd millennium. You might say, due to all the 5's, it was a golden day, and, coincidentally enough, one tradition of the holiday is kind of an unintended nod to the pentagonal golden spiral.

The China poblana, the colorful costume featuring a voluminous castor (circle skirt) worn by festival dancers - like the one inset left above (found here) - are really something to see in action. The circle skirts generate spiral shapes continuously as the dancer swirls through her routine. For a regular Phi festival view the short video below the jump break.

______________________________________________

Albuquerque clouds in May (#2) - cellphone photo - 2025, DS.

(Text added May 9)

I guess, in keeping with the times, it isn't too weird that this post has been almost completely revised before it was even finished. But, don't worry, I have no desire to address the "times" nor the shit-storms that (too) many of us are dealing with these days. My goal is to regain a vestige of mental equilibrium again and experience tells me there's only one place to go: back to the natural world. Some of my most serene moments in New Mexico were spent photographing the Sandia mountains, and, in ways, I'm doing the same again; but my view of the mountain range has changed... and, this time I'm obsessed with the clouds.

(Continued below the jump...)

The First of May

 

Rose Pentacle (Rose Detail) - clay pattern - 2025, DS.

The Philosopher's Rose

Why is it that some of us must fight

to create (in) this world?

Why is it that some of us must fight

to stay alive?

Therein lies the Logos of

a Dying God.

But, then, I wonder:

why is it that the Rose

continues to unfold so

magnificently?

- May 2, 2025, DS.

Amo, ergo sum.
(I love, therefore I am.)

Spring (Interlude)

 

Nature's Signature

Nature is sexy by nature.

Sexy is tactile and, yet,

magically enabled to cross all boundaries

w/ one vibrant,

undulating

curve.

- 2025, DS.

Video credit: Remmzo.

Spring sky, April 22, 2025, Albuquerque, NM - DS.

Contrails, April 22, 2025, Albuquerque, NM - DS 

Go Tell it to the Olive Tree (4/4/2025 - Post Abandoned)

 

A living historical record: the olive tree of Vouves, Greece.

The Olive Tree - A Living Record

Oldest olive tree in the world is located in Crete

"The ancient Olive Tree of Vouves (Elia Vouvon) is located in the village of Ano Vouves on the island of Crete. It is believed to be the oldest olive tree in the world which still produces highly-prized olives.

Although its exact age cannot be verified using radioisotopes as the tree’s heartwood has been lost through the centuries, scientists from the University of Crete have estimated it to be 4,000 years old. It is presumed that the tree first appeared in 1100BC, in the sub-Minoan period of Cretan history." (2020, Andriana Simos of the Greek Herald)

Meet The 4,000-Year-Old Olive Tree That Saw The Rise And Fall Of Alexander The Great’s Empire—A Biologist Explains

"Deep in the heart of Crete, where myth intertwines with natural wonder, stands the legendary olive tree of Vouves. For millennia, this 2,000-year-old ancient sentinel has silently witnessed the rise and fall of civilizations, outlasting even some of Greece’s most famous historical figures.

Olive trees have long been revered not only for their fruit and oil but also for the resilience encoded in their DNA. These trees symbolize endurance, wisdom and continuity. In a landscape where nature’s secrets are often obscured by time, the olive tree of Vouves reminds us that life can sometimes persist against all odds."

- The Olive Tree of Vouves was my initial inspiration for this post. It is a protected historical monument in Greece and has possibly witnessed over 4000 years of human history.

Ironically, less than a week later, what should appear in new's headlines, but articles about a different historical tree.

White House to remove magnolia tree dating to Andrew Jackson

•

Historic tree planted nearly 200 years ago to be cut down at the White House

_____________________________________________

One American Political Party Attempts to Censor Natural History, a Nation's History and the History of the World

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."

- Excerpted from George Orwell's novel, "1984", and sourced from this sobering article.

•

Trump targets 'anti-American ideology' at Smithsonian museums

"Trump has set out to radically reshape American culture, which he says has been contaminated by "woke" left-wing ideology. He has signed several orders that are intended to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programmes from the federal government - some of which led to legal challenges."

•

Trump Executive Order Targets ‘Anti-American’ Content at Smithsonian

"President Donald Trump has signed an executive order on Thursday directing the Smithsonian, a federal consortium of cultural and research institutions, to eliminate “divisive” and “anti-American” content from its exhibitions and restore “monuments, memorials, statues, markers” that have been removed from public spaces since 2020.

The “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” order gives Vice President JD Vance the authority to determine what content is “improper” at the Smithsonian Institution. A fact sheet from the White House describes the order as opposed to “anti-American ideology.”

•

Unabashed Fascism': Trump Executive Order Targets 'Improper Ideology' at Smithsonian

"First Trump removes any reference of diversity from the present—now he's trying to remove it from our history," wrote one Democratic lawmaker. "You cannot erase our past and you cannot stop us from fulfilling our future."

•

US orders French companies to comply with Trump's diversity ban

"American interference in the inclusion policies of French companies, along with threats of unjustified tariffs, is unacceptable," France's Ministry of Foreign Trade said in a statement sent to Reuters.

"France and Europe will defend their businesses, their consumers, and also their values," the ministry, which is under the authority of the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, added."

______________________________________________

Aphroditus - Gender in the Ancient World

"There's also a statue of Venus on Cyprus, that's bearded, shaped and dressed like a woman, with scepter and male genitals, and they conceive her as both male and female. Aristophanes calls her Aphroditus, and Laevius says: Worshiping, then, the nurturing god Venus, whether she is male or female, just as the Moon is a nurturing goddess. In his Atthis Philochorus, too, states that she is the Moon and that men sacrifice to her in women's dress, women in men's, because she is held to be both male and female."

(Continued below the jump...)

Vale, Marianne...

"Will you take me across the channel,

London Bridge is falling down

Strange a woman tries to save

What a man will try to drown

And he’s the rain that they predicted,

It’s the forecast every time

The rose has died because you picked it

I believe that brandy’s mine

And all over the world

Strangers

Talk only about the weather

All over the world

It’s the same"

- Lyrics to Strange Weather, written by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, 1987.

***

"I know I'm not young and I'm damaged," she wrote defiantly. "But I'm still pretty kind of funny."

- Marianne Faithfull, ironic till the very end. In youth, irony is an art... In old age it's a necessity. This quote was sourced from the BBC's comprehensive tribute.

I'm sad to report that Marianne Faithfull slipped away from us on January 31 of this year. Weirdly, I didn't find the news till yesterday, although I can't understand how I managed to miss it.

It seems like I had just blogged about her recently. So, the news hit hard. Marianne was a special  woman; sort of a triple goddess figure: a charming, gracious lady, a bawdy  broad, and, lastly, an enchanted little match girl. But, for those of us who more or less grew up with her, she was an invincible survivor. Throughout all of her trials and tribulations she remained strong, maintaining her dignity and a sense of humor. Oh, and she remained an unapologetic smoker, an outstanding feat of resilience these days.

As a performer she was unique; she had at least 3 incarnations. Marianne #1 had the clear-bell voice of an angel. Marianne #2 sang like a wildcat on the prowl. Marianne #3 was the world-weary chanteuse. She could've glammed it up with feathers and furs, but, she never needed to. She was the real deal.

And, we'll miss her.

(The lovely photo - inset right above - was taken by Bruce Weber in 1996 and can be found on MF's website, along with many other great shots.)

Digging Up Women for International Women's Day (#people+uterus)*

A 20th century Antique beaded purse found in an Etsy shop.

__________________________________________

Like many women, I find I have to steal time in order to create. I've stolen a lot of time in my day... but, despite my efforts to fashion a life around my creativity, I find that I continue to feel as if I am forced to steal time.

I stole time to write this post... have to steal more time to complete it. I am a woman. By a long-held tradition my time is not my own... especially if I chose to be a mother, a wife, or a caregiver... or a woman trying to survive. But, as life would have it, in some way all women are in danger of becoming sacrificial lambs.

But, maybe, not all.

Inset left is a blade fashioned from quartz crystal. Thousands of years ago it belonged to a woman we now refer to as the Ivory Lady. I wonder about her times. I wonder if her time was her own. It may have been.

And, so, sisters, with this tiny light in mind we'll tip our hats to our singular allotted day, International Woman's Day... which, in terms of this foreword was yesterday. Oddly enough, during the past two days, the Global Day of Unplugging took place. Talk about really bad timing... was the date chosen deliberately to undermine and inconvenience women?

In which case, I guess we may as well take a few days for ourselves. 3's the charm.

This post goes out to all the archaeologists - especially the women - who made it possible or even feasible. As a little girl, I used to like to dig holes in the back yard when allowed. What was I digging for? I never really asked. Perhaps, I was looking for the vestiges of another little girl... who lived long ago... and made things.

(Make every day women's day.)

__________________________________________

Huge Collection of 270,000 Beads Unearthed in Copper Age Tomb in Spain

“Beads are a widespread and pervasive element of material culture produced by Homo sapiens, ”the study authors noted. “As excellent indicators of technology, social organization, exchange patterns, and even beliefs, beads are a topic of research in their own right.”

"Each was made by shaping a single seashell and boring a hole through its center. The huge number represents the largest single-burial assemblage of beads ever found in any grave site."

Buried in more than 270,000 beads, grave reveals women’s power 5,000 years ago

"The team found the majority of the beads in a large chamber of the Montelirio tomb, which held the remains of 20 people, including 15 women and five individuals whose sex wasn’t determined. A smaller chamber where two women were buried also contained beads.

... The researchers identified what they believe to be threaded beads that could have formed two full-body beaded tunics, skirts and other clothes or cloths of undetermined shape."

“They would have been extremely glittery under the sunlight and that would have been a very powerful effect to see these women standing in front of a crowd performing whatever rituals they were in charge of performing.”

***

Before the advent of the photographic image, artists and artisans provided visual documentation of their times. Regarding very ancient times such as the Copper Age, artifacts (and bones) are generally all that remain.

The featured artifact in this archaeological story is the humble bead; not one, but over 2 hundred thousand of them! Many of them were found draped over and around a group of 15 female skeletons in a prehistoric Spanish tomb - Tholos de Montelirio - near to that of the so-called Ivory Lady (who was originally determined to be male). Apparently, there are 5 additional bodies whose genders have yet to be determined because their bones were crushed.

But, while the beads and the majority of bones withstood the test of time, merely a few scraps of fabric were in evidence and while the beads are thought to have decorated clothing, there are few clues as to how the clothing was really fashioned... or what the beaded garments represented. What we can determine is that they were expensive and time consuming to create. And, by this, we can deduce that the entombed women were highly regarded; they were special in some way.

Many of the beads were created from scallop shells... which may have been devotionals for a marine goddess such as Aphrodite, Astarte, Ishtar, or the moon goddess Innana to whom the hymn excerpt (below) was addressed.

__________________________________________

"The day is auspicious,

The priestess is clothed

in beautiful robes,

In womanly beauty,

As in the light of the rising moon."

- Via Enheduanna's Hymn to Innana (c. 2300 BC), reposted from an earlier Woman's Day article.

__________________________________________

And, there are some reasons to believe that the women were priestesses. For one, it would explain why they were all interred in one tomb, sporadically, over a period of years.

Then, too, we are given an interesting description of one of the bodies...

(Continued below the jump...)

Laughing in the Face of Evil

"This is going to be great television!"

- Former reality-TV show host*, Donald Trump, regarding his hostile, disrespectful reception of Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.**

“I’d like to welcome President Zelenskyy to this incredible trap,” James Austin Johnson’s Trump said at the top of the sketch before making a dig at Zelenskyy’s casual attire."

- Via yesterday's Saturday Night Live's opening skit - "cold open" - partially transcribed by The Wrap.

There were a number of hilarious moments, but few of them could dispell the memory, nor the abject horror many Americans felt while watching the original travesty;

well, unless it was Canadian comedian Michael Myers' take on Elon Musk's psychedelic "glitch." Ha, ha, ha.

In other entertainment news:

Can the Oscars Pull a Satisfying Show Out of a Year of Chaos and Ugliness?

"This Oscar season, which at one point seemed as if it could be the first normal awards season after the impact of a pandemic and two big Hollywood strikes, has been a mess. But here’s the rub: It may have been an ugly, chaotic awards season — but when you step out of awards season, it’s an uglier, even more chaotic world.

“It’s been a great year for film,” Film Independent Spirit Awards host Aidy Bryant said at the beginning of that show on Feb. 22. “And a bad year for human life.”

Protesters target JD Vance in Vermont after clash with Zelensky

***

(Perhaps "evil" is too strong a word to use... and it's never a word to use lightly. But, for some odd reason, it just felt right as I was searching for a title for this post. Generally words like ignorance or deception will do. But, evil is a word expressed by the heart; not the mind.)

I had another post in the works slated for today but it's been well over a month since the Circus from Hell came to town and the news here in the States has grown exponentially grimmer by the day. In other words, we are in desperate need of comic relief!

The latest "cherry" on the shit-sundae being the Trump administration's failed diplomacy towards the leader of, yet, another American allied country. But, it went worse than anyone could have predicted. As far as many are concerned, Trump bombed with French President Macron - his "friend" - as well... but this latest spectacle was so foul it left us all reeling.

Perhaps, the MAGA mind confuses egotism with patriotism and strong-arm with strength... or, perhaps, they've just chosen the wrong words for their motto. Because it is now evident to the world that they never intended to "Make America Great Again." Their motto should read: Make American Billionaires Great (and Screw Everybody Else).

Pro-Ukraine protests erupt across US after Trump and Vance ‘ambush’ Zelenskyy

In photos: Thousands across the U.S. protest Trump and Musk's policies

_________________________________________

* One take-away from Wiki's entry for The Apprentice:

"Trump was fired by NBC when the studio disagreed with remarks he made about Mexican immigrants during his announcement that he was running for president of the United States on June 16, 2015."

** Zelenskyy or Zelensky? See here.

____________________________

This just in!

‘A crossroads in history’: Europe seeks to take control of Ukraine negotiations at pivotal London summit