A Pillar of the Sun

Upon reading my blog, you will note that I spend a lot of time on the road, and for many reasons. One of them is that I live in a place that on a day-to-day basis is fairly unremarkable. The Central Valley of California is flat and the skies, which can often make up for flat landscapes in other places, are often equally unremarkable. We don't get many thunderstorms, or snow, or tornadoes, which is a blessing, but...unremarkable.  This time of year, the most exciting weather phenomena is fog, which obscures things. So, driving home from work this evening, I was pleased to see something interesting, a sun pillar rising from the horizon. Pillars form as the sun reflects off of horizontally oriented ice crystals in the high stratus clouds. It's not the most spectacular picture you'll ever see, but it's the best one you'll see from me today...