From Blue Skies to Jet Contrail White Skies

Deep in the Heart of Texas

The stars at night, are big and bright,

deep in the heart of Texas,

The prairie sky is wide and high,

deep in the heart of Texas.

The sage in bloom is like perfume,

deep in the heart of Texas,

Reminds me of, the one I love,

deep in the heart of Texas.

The coyotes wail, along the trail,

deep in the heart of Texas,

The rabbits rush, around the brush,

deep in the heart of Texas.

The cowboys cry, "Ki-yip-pee-yi,"

deep in the heart of Texas,

The dogies bawl, and bawl and bawl,

deep in the heart of Texas.

(June Hershey, 1941)

Deep in the heart of Texas,

 the skies were blue, the clouds were white, 

until the jet contrails began to make

 a tic-tac-toe pattern across the sky.

While travelling from San Marcos to Cleburne, last week, I watched as the clear blue skies were lined with a myriad of jet contrails. Straight lines ran across the sky and then were crossed like the letter T, then as more lines ran up and down, right and left, the blue sky became more like a patchwork quilt.

The contrails gradually expanded, no longer pencil thin lines. The contrails became more like long, fluffily pieces of yarn floating across the heavens.

As the day worn on, the fluffy pieces of yarn expanded and stretched, pulled apart into hazy mats of white. The sky was covered with old and tired contrails. No longer looking anything at all like the exhaust from jets, the condensation now resembled or became clouds. I am not sure which….

Goodbye blue skies, hello clouds….