In the week or so between Thanksgiving and Saint Nicholas Day, I try to keep Christmas frenzy at bay (with, of course, the minor cheating, like starting an Advent calendar). An annual rereading of Greer Gilman's Moonwise is a good compromise: mythic, ritual, and seasonal. So is literal walking in November woods. Yesterday, under a gray sky, I was on a hillside floored with fallen leaves and realized I was walking "in 'tCloudwood."
Richard Webb's photograph of the Burn at Glendui speaks to whatever it is I love about northern landscapes and woods. The imaginary world of Cloud draws on the landscape and dialects of northern England and Scotland, which makes certain other photographs at the Geograph.com site pop out as "Cloudish." See, for instance, see also a rock-strewn moor, a waterfall plunging into an abyss, and a shepherd's hut and fold.
Image via geograph.org © Richard Webb and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.