This weekend I attended a birthday celebration in honor of the 100th birthday of the Cloud Man, John Day, who died 5 years ago. He always planned to live to 100 and have a party. His daughters put on a party in his honor, and celebrated his life.
He was a Meteorologist and college professor, studied clouds and took pictures of them. Wrote Petersen's Guide to Atmosphere, and the Petersen's First Guide to Clouds and Weather, as well as his own Book of Clouds. The updated Guide that he was working on when he died at 95 has been finished and is due out shortly. The Book of Clouds teaches the different kinds of clouds through great pictures. It's marvelous for students to learn from, and good as a Coffee Table Book. While it's officially Out of Print, copies are still available through Amazon or maybe eBay. There's also talk of another printing. I have memories of John walking in the local parades with his sign "cloud man" and carrying his umbrella painted with clouds. His slogan was "Look up and See". He was a friend of the family as well as a local celebrity. He was one of three men who became City Ambassadors. They wore pinstiped coats and straw hats, passed out carnations to ladies on Mother's Day and other occasions on the main street of town, and toured the shops singing Blue Skies or You Are My Sunshine. They were fun to listen to. His web page was cloudman.com. It's still up and tells a bit about him. (I noticed web listings for another cloud man but I know nothing about that other guy.) An interesting thing... at the start of the party, the clouds opened up, let in the sun, and formed a circle rainbow around the sun. The daughters were convinced that John was sending greetings to everyone. I'd never seen a rainbow like that before. It must have a special name. Alice in Oregon ...where it can't decide if it's winter or summer. The first 2 weeks of May were like August, and the next 2 weeks were February. In the USA, it is/was Memorial Weekend when it's traditional to honor deceased family members and decorate their graves. This Birthday Party was a very interesting way to celebrate someone no longer with us. To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
