Wall clouds over the Oslo fjord

Oslo has experienced a fair amount of unstable weather for the past month or so. We have had days that start out sunny and warm, then the clouds roll in and darken the sky. Sometimes it rains, other times it doesn't. Sometimes we experience a brief rain shower, other times the rainfall is torrential. When we were sailing back to the harbor on Saturday after a pleasant boat trip on the Oslo fjord, I captured some of the really weird cloud formations that appeared around 6 pm local time. I say weird, because I've never seen anything like these formations before in Oslo. Perhaps they have occurred before and I just haven't seen them. I commented to my husband that one of the formations looked like the clouds you see in the Midwest (USA) when tornadoes form. And then I googled these types of cloud formations (square clouds) and found out that these types of clouds are called 'wall clouds', and sure enough, can be associated with the formation of tornadoes. I often wonder why we don't get more tornadoes in our part of the world. But we have experienced waterspouts; the Oslo fjord experienced a waterspout some years ago (https://norwaytoday.info/news/waterspout-oslo-saturday/) and in 2014 southern Norway experienced the same (https://www.thelocal.no/20140624/mini-tornadoes-stun-southern-norway).

Here are some photos of these weird cloud formations: 

never seen anything like this before

almost looks like a tornado is forming

The colors of autumn sunrises

I took some sunrise photos during this past week, and here are the results--a truly spectacular blending of light and colors. There is nothing quite like an autumn sunrise to inspire the soul.

Angel wings and pink clouds

On the morning of February 18th, I was lucky enough to witness cloud formations that immediately brought to mind angel wings. I'd like to think that a guardian angel is watching over me, those I love, and the city of Oslo. During the late afternoon of the very same day, I witnessed pink-colored clouds, very unusual and very beautiful. I went online to read a little about the color pink, and wouldn't you know, the meaning of the color pink is unconditional love and nurturing. If I was looking for divine signs that everything is going to be ok again after my brother's death, perhaps these are them. I'd like to think so.

I'd also like to include here an old Eskimo saying that was written in a sympathy card that I received from three of my colleagues; it is beautiful and it made me cry. It's a nice way of thinking about the stars.

Perhaps they are not stars in the sky, but rather openings where our loved ones shine down to let us know they are happy. 

Another friend wrote that when her brother died, the priest at the funeral mass said that her brother was now divine. I liked that too. 

There is comfort in every word, conversation, phone call, email, card, and hug that all the wonderful people in my life have offered me and us. There is also comfort in nature and in solitude. In the midst of sadness, there is also peace. And there is love.