"Thunderclouds of Love" Sunset

Not all sunsets are brilliant colors of red and pink streaks in the sky.  There was a thunder storm everyday I was in the Rocky Mountains. I love being caught on the trails and getting soaking wet!  The temperature dropped drastically when the sun is covered with dark clouds.  These are photos of the sun setting over Columbine Lake. There is a bluegrass song entitled "Thunderclouds of love." 

Thunderclouds of love

 Your love hit me just like a flash of lightning
It came pouring from the thunder clouds of love
At first the turn of love was frightening
Now I know that it was sent from God above
I had been prayin' for nights on end
For some one who could make me laugh again
Then all at once from the darkness of my heart
There grew a light, the light was you love, fell like rain
No more, no more will I ever be lonely
I'll always have you here with me to love
An angel sent for an angel coming
To fill my heart with thunder clouds of love

Fort Clinch - An Old Historic Military Post

The fort was named for General Duncan Lamont Clinch, a prominent figure in the Second Seminole War in Florida.  The construction of the fort started in 1867 and is built at the mouth of the St. Mary's River to protect the port of Fernandina.  The fort served as a military post during the Civil War, Spanish-American war and World War II.

 

 

Battle Hymn of the Republic
by Julia Ward Howe

Chorus:
Glory, Glory Hallelujah, Glory, Glory Hallelujah,
Glory, Glory Hallelujah, His truth is marching on.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where grapes of wrath are stored;
he hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword,
His truth is marching on. (Chorus)

I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps;
They have built Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps,
His day is marching on. (Chorus)

He has founded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His Judgement Seat'
Oh! Be swift, my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on. (Chorus)

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me;
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on. (Chorus) 

 

 

The author of the magnificent "Battle-Hymn of the Republic" was born in New York in 1819, a daughter of the banker Samuel Ward. In 1843 she married Dr. S. G. Howe, best known as the head of Perkins Institute for the Blind. She assisted him in editing his anti-slavery journal, the Boston Commonwealth. In 1861, at the time of this picture, she made her first trip to Washington, where her husband became interested in the work of the Sanitary Commission. During the visit the party was invited to a military review in the Virginia camps. On the way back she and the others in the carriage sang "John Brown's Body" to the applause of the soldiers by the roadside. Her pastor, who was in the party, words for the tune. That night the inspiration came; she wrote the best known of her poems and one of the finest products of the whole Civil War period. Her later life was devoted largely to the cause of woman suffrage. She died at Newport, October 17, 1910.

The Violet Sky of Tolomato River

 

Colorado is not the only place where there are "Purple Skies of Majesty."  These pictures where taken at the South Point Loop Trail of the Guana/Tolomato/Matanzas National Reserve. Everyone thinks the sky is blue but the sky is really violet! It is actually violet but the sky appears blue due to the limitations of our eyes.  Our sensitivity to light decreases as we reach the shortest wavelengths of the visible spectrum.  The violet is there, but our eyes detect it only weakly.  What we see is blue--present in large quantities and easily detected by our eyes.  We really do have purple skies of majesty in Florida!  I would love to get a picture of the moon under a dark violet sky.
One of my favorite groups is Blackmores Night.  They have a song I really enjoy "Under a Violet Moon" that has a medieval theme of knights, enchanted woods, Tudor Rose and stealing a kiss under a violet moon.

Under a Violet Moon

 

Dancing to the feel of the drum
Leave this world behind
We'll have a drink and toast to ourselves
Under a Violet Moon
Tudor Rose with her hair in curls
Will make you turn and stare
Try to steal a kiss at the bridge
Under a Violet Moon
Raise your hats and your glasses too
We will dance the whole night through
We're going back to a time we knew
Under a Violet Moon
Cheers to the Knights and days of old
the beggars and the thieves
living in an enchanted wood
Under a Violet Moon
Fortuneteller what do you see
Future in a card
Share your secrets, tell them to me
Under a Violet Moon
Close your eyes and lose yourself
In a medieval mood
Taste the treasures and sing the tunes
Under a Violet Moon
Tis my delight on a shiny night
The season of the year
To keep the lanterns burning bright
Under a Violet Moon