I left work the other day and, as I walked out into the parking lot, thought “Boy, it got really dark out here.” In fact, it was so dark I questioned what time of year it was. Were we losing daylight already? Had I not been paying attention and allowed late autumn to sneak up on me?

Then I saw the cloud system just to the south of me — a great cave in the sky, bursting with sunlight, seeming to beckon newly departed souls to carry them to the great beyond.

Was I being called home? Had I eaten the proverbial canned salmon mousse?

Probably not.

First of all, I had eaten a salad that day for lunch. Second, I’m not religious at all and would more likely stumble into the Gorge of Eternal Peril before being invited into a pearly portal in the sky.

So I took some photos with my phone before going to Hannaford and then heading home for the day.

Here is a version of it using the phone’s telephoto lens, which produced an image that resembles a watercolor painting of the cloud structure.