Reports From Unknown Places

Digital painting of a sunrise sky, a bright gradient of blue to yellow, with long clouds stretching out across the frame. Bright orange light is hitting their underside.

We report as the tide comes in under the sunrise: there is more gold in the sun now that autumn is settling in. Dawn pours in one drop at a time, and remains there in the air for a long time. The moon is still in the sky, facing the sun in an age-old standoff.

Digital painting of an evening sky, lilac and purple, covered in shapeless, wispy clouds. The yellow full moon is sitting there, glowing slightly.

We report: we stumble upon the full moon, and out of nowhere, we get a sense of scale for a fraction of a second. We get vertigo as we realise how big the moon is, and how far away it is. Then, a cloud floats in front of it, and the moon becomes a yellow circle in the sky again.

Digital painting of a cumulonimbus, large storm cloud expanding outwards in a bright blue sky. Above and around it, small white clouds, and underneath, a dark curtain of rain. Where the rain falls, there is a small rainbow.

We report as the storm cell is getting away: we did not stumble upon this rainbow by chance. We noticed the sudden onslaught of rain, and the way light was pouring down at the same time. The rainbow was exactly where we expected it to be; we had only thought it would be bigger.

We report 2023 days of Reports From Unknown Places!
I usually like to take milestones as excuses to try something new and confusing with Reports. This year, I missed the 5-year anniversary back in March, so the 2000 days anniversary had to be extra new and confusing.

Digital painting of a bright blue sky, half of it covered with fibrous white clouds wrapped around one another, wispy on their edges.

We report: in another place, the sky remains this blue most of the day. The clouds appear out of thin air, and fade back without causing much disruption, barely approaching the sun during their short-lived existences. The air is dry, even quite warm when we stand in the sunshine.

A square pastel drawing of a foggy night scene. The sky is a dark grey, slightly lighter above the horizon. There is a line of trees standing in mid-distance, half-engulfed by the fog. There are puddles in the grass in the foreground reflecting the faint light.

11:25 PM: we trudge along fresh puddles on the way home. There is light from somewhere far away keeping the horizon awake.

A square pastel drawing of a foggy night scene. The sky is a uniform light grey from the streetlights shining and diffusing through the fog. There is dark foliage framing the top corners of the drawing., and faded trees in the distance.

10:39 PM: the fog rises, real fog that wraps around our legs and trips us when we are not paying attention. With the sky sitting on our shoulders,

A square pastel drawing of a dusk sky, a gradient of dark blues covered in black clouds. There are subtle bits of purple at the edges of the clouds.

9:08 PM: that we left behind at dawn. We hear the temperature drop and the humidity grow in the louder sounds of traffic. In the shadows,

A square pastel drawing of a late sunset sky above the sea. The sky is a gradient of blue to yellow and orange; it is split by long, blue-grey clouds. The sea and the shore are different shades of grey.

8:00 PM: the grey clouds dissolve into the blue of dusk, losing shade after shade in the ocean. We return to the cold

A square pastel drawing of a late afternoon sky. There are grey and white clouds covering up most of the sky, and voluminous clouds rising, softly lit orange by the sunset. The bit of clear sky showing in a corner is a vibrant blue.

7:16 PM: we forget the day must end. The colours turn once more, dragged into existence by the low sun, the late hour. Soon,

A square pastel drawing of a blue sky half-covered with a veil of white. The sun is behind it, shining through and creating iridescence on the wispy edges of the clouds.

6:34 PM: so from there on, we have to keep watching more closely. The details become more important. While the minutes pass,

A square pastel drawing of a bright blue sky with voluminous grey and white clouds in the lower tier, with a veil snagged on top. Higher in the frame, long translucent clouds are floating.

5:11 PM: a deep breath in the chaos of this October day; the quiet lasts for a little while, as long as any quiet lasts in the sky,

A square pastel drawing of a cloudy sky, voluminous grey clouds opening up to a gap of clear sky, deep blue.

4:07 PM: when the light pierces through the clouds, it is impossible to ignore. It is like a second sunrise,

A square pastel drawing of a very dark blue-grey sky over some green trees, layers of heavy clouds stacked on top of one another.

3:17 PM: get stronger, creating a shimmer over the trees. We cannot pinpoint the moment when it gets dark, yet

A square pastel drawing of a cloudy sky, a blur of dark blue-grey tangled up together.

2:24 PM: like the rain that is just starting to fall. This light drizzle is still hesitant, it could evaporate within minutes, or

A square pastel drawing of a cloudy sky, a pale grey, with a bit of a peach tint, and tall, voluminous, dark grey clouds rising into the sky. There are small dark clouds scattered, and long, thin ones in the background.

1:13 PM: under the pooling clouds, with the sense that our expert was perhaps correct in their predictions. The air smells

A square pastel drawing of a pale blue sky with voluminous white clouds rising up, and a layer of flat, dark grey clouds pooled at the bottom.

12:47 PM: but the sun is here now, a dazzling presence overhead that washes everything out. We take a walk

A square pastel drawing of a deep blue sky covered in cirrus, long, thin, translucent white clouds.

11:51 AM: is still pushing and pulling, and the sky keeps changing. There is a depth to the air, not quite warm

A square pastel drawing of a bright blue sky, half-covered with a white fuzzy cloud, a few small white clouds and a contrail across the top left corner of the frame.

10:33 AM: that we are due for a storm in the afternoon. We hum, unwilling to form an opinion on the subject, but the wind from last night

A square pastel drawing of a pale blue sky over a turquoise sea. There are a few small, light grey clouds spread out above the ocean, and a veil of white in the distance.

9:19 AM: the ocean over everything else. We are watching small crabs burying themselves into the sand. Our expert thinks

A square pastel drawing of a morning sky, a gradient of bright blue to yellow, with a variety of clouds floating there. There are pale yellow clouds, and a flurry of translucent white above. A few clouds are long, thin, and dark grey.

8:44 AM: the blue of the sky is an intense turquoise at the zenith, almost like it is making up for something. We hear

A square pastel drawing of a sunrise sky, deep, diffuse shades of pink and purple with a few, long purple clouds floating in the lower tier of the frame.

7:58 AM: but the day comes alive that much brighter for the chill in the wind. The sunrise is too quick for how long we waited for it. We blink, and

A square pastel drawing of a twilight sky, a uniform shade of vibrant dark blue above a path. The path is lit by a street lamp. There are trees in the distance.

6:54 AM: suddenly, early morning mist swallows the sky. Under the streetlights, it is the coldest it has been all night,

A square pastel drawing of a bright starry sky in shades of light blue and green, and even spots of pale orange, with the Milky Way running down the middle. There are many, many stars.

5:01 AM: we think we are only now getting used to the darkness. Our expert is denying their sleepiness while their eyelids are drooping, and

A square pastel drawing of a night sky, mostly clear, dark blue, with a few stars, and long, lighter blue clouds above the horizon. There are dark trees in the distance.

4:28 AM: on a wind that is drying our eyes. Each star has its own halo, and our yawns are getting larger and larger. We long for our bed, but

A square pastel drawing of a dark turquoise night sky, full of bright stars. There are puffy, grey clouds peppered across the frame.

3:41 AM: we feel lightheaded looking up. We only notice the clouds by the way they block the starlight now, rushing between our fingers

A square pastel drawing of a night sky split in two, deep dark blue, almost black clouds opening up to a starry sky, a lighter shade of blue mixed with purple.

2:04 AM: the stars are a bright cacophony of bells, and as they multiply in the sky,

A square pastel drawing of a cloudy night sky, horizontal layers of different shades of dark blue.

1:12 AM: while the clouds reluctantly part and immediately knit back together. In the empty darkness of small hours,

A square pastel drawing depicting a night sky, with a yellow waxing gibbous in the middle showing through large, swooping purple-grey clouds. Between the clouds, there is a dark blue sky, and dark silhouettes of trees beneath.

12:36 AM: the moon rose lightlessly behind clouds, and is just now showing

Digital painting of a sunset sky, fibrous clouds spread out in soft waves. There is bright orange and yellow glowing at the base of the clouds, and purple in the shadows.

We report while the wind rises: the clouds are getting stretched to the width of the sky, brass and gold from the stormy sunset. In the east, nothing remains of the light already, but the rain is moving in from there, slowly enough to let the day wane in peace.