Summer’s sky is in full bloom. Puffy white clouds — those feather canyons in the sky — are everywhere. Joni Mitchell’s lyrics depict them thus, “Rows and flows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air.” August is when you’re authorized to be laid-back, stretch out on the grass and scrutinize those hovering palettes of heavenly clouds.
In meteorology, a cloud is a visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals of water and various chemicals suspended in the atmosphere above us.
Here are our last month of summer puffy, unearthly choices for shopping, dining and entertainment to keep you partly cloudy, with low humidity and hints of fall:
3 With cloud cover blocking out the sun most days, set up a neighborhood block party during Denver Days through Aug. 7. Plan a picnic, social event or service project around town. Information: 720-865-9090.
3 Soak up time in the shade with friends and fellow workers at Cherry Creek North’s Food & Wine, Aug. 13, 6-9 p.m. Information: 303-606-7332.
3 Enjoy cloud cooled Wednesday evenings through Aug. 17 listening to music at the Shady Grove Picnic Series. Information: 303-777-1005.
3 You’ll be in the clouds when your duck wins the Hope Floats fundraiser at Lowry’s Great Lawn Park Aug. 20, 11 a.m. information: 303-928-7100.
3 Take cover in the garden-level Grind Kitchen with a new American menu plus craft cocktails, homemade sodas & beer. Information: 720-749-4158.
3 Pick a shady spot to live adjacent to Sloan’s Lake in new row homes for sale with a cool community garden on site. Information: 303-934-9091.
3 Chill under cloudy skies for the yearly ice cream social plus rock & roll in the Rose Garden Plaza on Havana Aug. 23, 6 p.m. Information: 303-360-7505.
3 See Lowry Foundation’s Artists In August show beneath the shady Wings Over The Rockies Aug. 27, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Information: 303-344-0581.
3 Brews will be brewing in the shade for you to taste during the Bruises + Brews Beerfest at Infinity Park, Aug. 27, noon-4 p.m. Event features tastings from 15 Colorado breweries including Comrade Brewing, honored at the 2016 World Beer Cup. There will also be live music and three distilleries. Plus there’s certain to be cloud cover for watching the international 7s rugby action. Information: Glendalebeerfest.com.
Clouds soak up sun’s solar rays during the day and allow the evening to buzz with delightful aroma. Like a grapevine-covered trellis, they keep us tucked under shaded cover so we can enjoy cool strolls. Cloud cover allows us to enjoy a picnic with a bottle of wine and the scent of sun-kissed flowers as we wait for those magnificent sunsets.
On a representative August day in the Cherry Creek Valley the sky is partly cloudy 34 percent of the time, and mostly cloudy or overcast 40 percent of the time.
To be sure clouds and cloud cover block the sun and help keep us cool. But like our assumptions about Valley weather, Mitchell’s lyrical and poetic finale articulates our August outlook best: “I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now. From up and down, and still somehow it’s cloud illusions I recall. I really don’t know clouds at all.”
— Glen Richardson
The Valley Gadfly can be reached at newspaper@glendalecherrycreek.com.