One thing I don’t like about living in a city is that in the ordinary course of a day you don’t see much of the sky. Buildings and trees block out most of what’s not directly overhead. In the country it’s a different story. I love seeing the sky here.

Clouds hung low over the countryside in this view from my sister’s house earlier today.

And sunset lit up a tall bank of clouds above the field behind my parents’ house this evening.

Although I’ve enjoyed seeing expansive clouds during the day, I’m hoping for a cloudless night before I leave. So far it has been too overcast to see stars, and I don’t get to see them at home. Sure, in Milwaukee we have Orion and the Big (and sometimes Little) Dipper. But city lights block out starlight. And the few stars that manage to shine through are nothing like what you can see in the country.

Where, on a good night, the sky looks like someone poured an entire canister of salt across black velvet. Just an astonishing number of stars, providing a glimpse into the infinite universe.