I Should Get Outdoors More

This is a Sun Pillar.  I have taken late afternoon walks for two days in a row now.  I walk to the power plant and back which is a distance of 3.2 miles.  It takes me fifty-three minutes, if I don't stop to take pictures.  I ALWAYS stop to take pictures.  Like today.  I have realized in the last two days that I really should get outdoors more.  It is a rewarding experience to watch the sky before and after sunset.  Perhaps it's this season of the year that gives us such interesting clouds.  The Sun Pillar is a special treat that you won't see that often.  It is a column of light that typically occurs during sunrise or sunset.  This one is not that tall - I have seen them tall enough that they would rise out of the frame of this picture.  You will love how they are created.  They are formed when sunlight reflects off the surfaces of falling ice crystals associated with thin, high-level clouds. The ice crystals are hexagonal plate-like ice crystals that fall with a horizontal orientation, gently rocking from side to side as they fall, and reflecting the sunlight.  I LOVE knowing that!