Skywatch Friday - falling sky


Southbound on the A9 on Sunday afternoon, at the turn off for Dalwhinnie. A dreich day, increasing the gloom of these narrow passes between the hills. It's not always gloomy - under winter snow or in the long light of June evenings the gloom disappears. But most of the time I'm glad we're speeding through in a car rather than trudging through the heather on foot or on horseback a few hundred years ago.

Edited to add, by popular request, a sound clip of the pronunciation of 'dreich'. Click on the link below. There's a smaller link in the pop-up window that comes up when you select the 'listen to the pronunciation' icon that lets you listen with your own audio player if you don't want to download the Apple one they suggest first off.

Dreich

If that doesn't work, the nearest I can get is to tell you that the 'drei-' bit is pronounced like the 'ee' in 'feet', and then you add the soft Scots 'ch' as at the end of 'loch'

And just to show that it's not always dreich:

Snowy days at the Drumochter Pass.

More skies around the world are at Skywatch Friday.

Comments

  1. Yes, I think the romance of ages past would lose a little something once you got too wet and cold! I'll take the warm, fast car and a daydream about the past any day.

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  2. Wow, that is dreary. I would hate to live in that area.

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  3. Love the post title, and I learned a new word: "dreich." I must look around the Internet to see if I can hear it pronounced.

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  4. Dramatic gray skies and I'd be glad to be speeding through that area in a car as well! Terrific capture! Hope you have a "blue sky" weekend!

    Sylvia

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  5. Oh dear! It may not ALWAYS be like that but I do tend to think of Scotland as looking like that. Please forgive me. :)

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  6. Such grey sky we had here on last weekend too.I like your photo!Have a nice weekend.

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  7. Ugh, I know what you mean! We often have days like that during the fall her as well!

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  8. Exciting pictures of clouds that are almost on the ground.

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  9. My Scottish grandparents led me to believe Scotland always looked like this, but somehow they made me love it, too. I never loved the bloody history, however, and I refused to see "Braveheart". I preferred, instead, to see "Dragonheart" with Sean Connery's lovely voice.
    When I was a teenager living on a hill in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, we had a cloud that used to come down and sit on our house. It seldom brought rain with it, so we decided it just liked to be there. This big Scottish cloud made me think of it. Thank you. I love thinking of Scotland.

    Kay
    Alberta, Canada

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  10. Whenever I pass this way it occurs to me that people used to live here in numbers - but not since the Highland Clearances. It's all deer and sheep now!

    Last winter it was -15 for a few weeks and very picturesque with frozen waterfalls and bowing fir trees weighed down with ice. You got to see the deer I think because they came down to where the food was.

    Hope you enjoyed your visit to Thurso - Everything in moderation!

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  11. A cloud on foot. May it lift you up into a wonderful Friday.

    daily athens

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  12. Not quite Scotch mist :-)
    Ah, but I bet that now in September you have those gorgeous blue skies that I remember.

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  13. I kind of like the look of it! Not all the time though~! lol You did capture it well.

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  14. Very dramatic looking view. Beautiful.

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  15. That is very beautiful in its own way. But I have to admit, I'd rather look at that kind of beauty than drive in it. We finally had a cloudy day yesterday with a little rain at the end, almost the first clouds we've seen in six weeks!

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  16. Looks scary for me...
    Amazing shot of you, Linda

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  17. Dreary day..but the decending cloud almost looks like a twister.
    A very unusual type of cloud..you captured it beautifuly.

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  18. I agree with Clairz....I LOVE the new word 'dreich'....and would use it if I knew how to pronounce it! PLEASE tell us!

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  19. this looks romantic to me--Heathcliff on horseback.:p

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  20. Wow! We never see something like this around here. So glad your camera caught it!

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  21. Strange formation...like a fog tornado! Thanks for stopping by at my SWF. Enjoy the weekend.

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  22. What a moody looking day. Different kind of skywatch picture, unique in it's own way.

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  23. yes - very northern sky! We have pretty much the same here in North Yorkshire!

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  24. Thank you for the 'sound bite'....the word even SOUNDS like its' description!! And yes...we DO have dreich days here in Texas as well! Just not NEARLY as many as YOU do! I happen to love the coziness of 'dreich days'....

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  25. Found this pic when reviewing my album from last January:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/41673094@N08/5052622142/

    Look familiar?

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