Fall, Waiting in the Wings

Tobacco Barn - Roosevelt Street, Hadley MA
Photo by Sharon Vardatira, August 22, 2026

We know fall is waiting in the wings when Hadley’s tobacco barns begin filling with freshly harvested broadleaf tobacco.

Last weekend, the barn doors stood wide open, ready for the harvest to come. By yesterday, tobacco wagons were making their way up and down Roosevelt Street, carrying the crop from field to barn, where the leaves are hung in long rows to air-cure. And now those once-empty barns are filling with green.

Fall hasn’t arrived yet. The summer days are still long, and those first crisp nights are yet to come. But by this time next month, autumn will officially be on the calendar and the harvest season will be well underway.

I paused in the midst of my Saturday chores yesterday to capture these newly hung leaves against a moody, on-and-off drizzly altostratus sky. It’s one of those late-August scenes that reminds me that seasons rarely change all at once. They announce themselves in small ways first – in a field being harvested, an open barn door, and the first unmistakable signs of what comes next.

Tobacco Leaves - Roosevelt Street, Hadley MA
Photo by Sharon Vardatira - August 22, 2026

Cumulonimbus over Amherst

Cumulonimbus over UMass Amherst - August 6, 2026
Photo by Sharon Vardatira

In all my cloudspotting, this is the first time I've been in a position to capture that classic cumulonimbus view, with the top of the cloud flattening into an anvil shape as it reaches the tropopause - the boundary separating the troposphere from the stratosphere. There’s something especially satisfying about seeing a formation you’ve encountered countless times in diagrams and other people's photos suddenly unfolding, unmistakably, in the sky above you. Also, of course, cumulonimbus clouds are massive storm clouds that produce lightning, wind, and hail. So I was expecially excited to see it for that reason

Exhibition in Two Galleries

Hampshire Bicycle Exchange
University Drive, Amherst
Photographer: Andy Churchill

This featured photo for August in our 2026 Head in the Clouds Amherst wall calendar comes from Andy Churchill, who captured the Hampshire Bicycle Exchange on University Drive beneath one spectacular Amherst sunset.

At first glance, I could have sworn this was a chic art gallery, its windows glowing in counterpoint to the extraordinary sunset. Imagine my surprise when Andy told me it was the Hampshire Bicycle Exchange. Only in Amherst could a bike shop pull off looking like modern art!

What I especially love is the conversation between sky and storefront – the brilliant pinks, oranges and purples overhead answered by that little illuminated world of color below. It's one of those scenes that rewards a second look: something completely ordinary, transformed for a few minutes by light, timing, and the good fortune of someone being there to notice.

For our final 2026 calendar, the jury selected favorite images from more than a decade of past calendars rather than issuing an open call. This photograph originally appeared in the 2024 calendar – and feels just right for August, when the long summer evenings give the sky plenty of time to put on a show. 

Nature's Fireworks

Anyone in Amherst on July 4, 2016, will remember this sky – nature's own fireworks over the annual festivities. Many submitted versions of this scene, but we loved Marian Wolfsun's unedited capture of its extraordinary brilliance. 

Cloudspotters will recognize these clouds as altocumulus – specifically, I'd call this altocumulus stratiformis radiatus. (Cloudspotters can happily debate the finer points, of course.) The long, parallel bands create that wonderful sense of perspective as they converge toward the horizon, while the sunset transforms them into what almost looks like brushstrokes across the sky. 

Altocumulus are a perennial favorite around here. There's something irresistible about the way these mid-level clouds gather into ripples and rows, turning ordinary sunrises and sunsets into something unforgettable. We can't promise they'll always steal the show on the Fourth of July... but in 2016, they most certainly did. 

May all your gatherings this month be equally radiant. ☁️✨

This is the featured photo for July in our 2026 Head in the Clouds Amherst wall calendar. As a reminder, for our final 2026 calendar, the jury selected favorite images from more than a decade of past calendars rather than issuing an open call. This photograph originally appeared in the 2017 calendar.

Umbrella Sky

North East Street, Amherst MA
Photo by Mindy Domb

This photo by Mindy Domb reminds us of what makes summer in Amherst so special – farm stands tucked into fields, calling us to stop even as we hurry past on our daily routines. A longtime supporter of Head in the Clouds Amherst and our state representative, Mindy has an eye for the everyday places where community takes root. 

This is the featured photo for June in our 2026 Head in the Clouds Amherst wall calendar. As a reminder, for our final 2026 calendar, the jury selected favorite images from more than a decade of past calendars rather than issuing an open call. This photograph originally appeared in the 2019 calendar.

Cloud note: We briefly considered identifying every cloud in this photograph. Then we remembered there was a farm stand to visit. Let's just say the sky is serving up a classic summer Valley mix: a little haze, a little sunshine, and a cloud layer that seems content to drift overhead while everyone else gets on with the important business of growing vegetables.

Bramble Hill Farm in May

Photo by Meg Wright
Bramble Hill Farm, Amherst MA

For whatever reason, over the years, we’ve always received fewer spring photos than any other season. Fortunately, Meg Wright captured everything we love about May in this one image – wild bergamot (bee balm) in the foreground, farm fields beyond, and early morning fog blanketing the Valley. Meg took this photo while walking past Bramble Hill Farm in Amherst.

This is the featured photo for May in our 2026 Head in the Clouds Amherst wall calendar. As a reminder, for our final 2026 calendar, the jury selected favorite images from more than a decade of past calendars rather than issuing an open call. This photograph originally appeared in the 2018 calendar.

Does fog qualify as a cloud? While there is some debate about that question, we here at Head in the Clouds Amherst agree that fog is simply a stratus cloud layer that's in direct contact with the land or sea. It's the one time when your head really can be "in the clouds," So let those tiny little water droplets envelop you - and enjoy!

P.S. NOAA agrees!

Intro to Cloudspotting - April 15 at 7 PM

Need a reason to look up? Look no further! 

I’ll be giving a virtual “Intro to Cloudspotting” talk with Cary Library in Lexington (on Zoom) – and you’re invited. We’ll explore cloud types, rare formations, tips on photographing clouds, and some ways clouds show up in local art and literature.

No rules. No tests. Just sky.

• Date/Time: April 15, 7-8 PM EDT
• Register here for this free talk: https://carylibrary.assabetinteractive.com/calendar/hold-virtual-cloud-spotting-101-with-sharon-vardatira/

Come spend an hour with your head in the clouds!

"Amherst, where only the 'h' is silent"

Amherst Town Hall
Photo by John Snyder

This featured photo for April in the 2026 Head in the Clouds Amherst wall calendar comes from John Snyder, who captured this striking view of Amherst Town Hall beneath a vivid rainbow.

This photo won us over with its timing and symbolism – a hopeful and bright rainbow crowning Town Hall. It captures Amherst’s pride in community, embrace of diversity, and politically active and fiercely opinionated citizenry. As the saying goes, “Amherst, where only the ‘h’ is silent.”

This photograph originally appeared in the 2018 calendar – and it feels just right for April, a month of welcome change, new life, and the occasional burst of color after the storm.

Gentle Joy

Campus Pond, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Photo by Ellen Finkelstein

This featured photo for March in the 2026 Head in the Clouds Amherst wall calendar comes from Ellen Finkelstein, who captured this scene at the Campus Pond at UMass Amherst, also affectionately called the “duck pond.”

This photo captures such a gentle joy – a bench overlooking the pond, geese and ducks drifting across the water, an adult and child pausing together. In twelve years of calendars, we’ve only rarely featured people, which makes this moment all the more special – a reminder of how we connect not just with the landscape, but with each other.

For our final 2026 calendar, the jury selected favorite images from more than a decade of past calendars rather than issuing an open call. This photograph originally appeared in the 2018 calendar – and it feels just right for this moment in March, as our relentlessly cold and snowy winter may finally be loosening its grip. 🌤️🦆

Angel, mermaid, or something else?

Sky over Granby MA, 2/10/2026
Photo by Barb Hahn

Head in the Clouds Amherst follower, Barb Hahn,shared this beautiful photo she took earlier this week, and I just had to pass it along.

What does it look like to you?

Barb sees an angel, and her friend says it looks like a mermaid with flowing hair. I’m seeing soft, feathery cirrocumulus high up in the atmosphere.

Cirrocumulus clouds often form in winter when moist air rises high into the cold upper levels of the atmosphere, where supercooled water droplets gather into tiny ripples and cloudlets before freezing into ice crystals.

Now I’m curious -- angel, mermaid… or something else entirely?

(And thank you for sharing, Barb - we always love seeing the clouds through other people's lenses!)

Finding Middle-earth in Amherst

Photo by James Patten (originally featured
in the 2024 Head in the Clouds Amherst calendar)

This featured photo for February in the 2026 Head in the Clouds Amherst wall calendar comes from Jim Patten, who captured this scene at Hampshire College in Amherst.

At first glance, you might think Jim had been wandering around Middle-earth rather than a college campus when he came upon this moment. What drew the jury to this image is its otherworldly, almost mythic quality — an everyday maple transformed, a doorway into another world.

In a winter that has been unrelentingly cold, this photograph feels especially well-timed. The fog blurs the boundaries, and the landscape offers a brief mental escape — proof that even when February is at its most stubborn, our surroundings can still surprise us.

Here’s to finding small portals out of the deep freeze when we need them most.

From "Bob, the Ugly Squirrel"

One of the quiet gifts of creating 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑𝑠 𝐴𝑚ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡 has been discovering where it travels – and who it keeps company with.

I recently received a handwritten letter from 𝐁𝐨𝐛 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥, a longtime reader and friend of the calendar, writing from California. Bob has written before about how he uses our wall calendar as a companion for looking up – especially when the sky has something special to offer.

Bob shared this account of a mid-December night he recently spent watching the Geminids meteor shower:

𝐈 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐬. 𝐃𝐞𝐜. 𝟏𝟐–𝟏𝟒 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐬…

𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐚𝐧 𝐃𝐢𝐞𝐠𝐨, 𝟐𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐥 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨. 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐎𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐨 – 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞.

𝟏:𝟐𝟎 𝐀𝐌 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝟏𝟎𝟎% 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐆𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 – 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐤𝐲 𝐖𝐚𝐲. 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐭 - 𝐝𝐨𝐠 - 𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐁𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐲.

𝐀𝐭 𝟐:𝟐𝟎 𝐀𝐌 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝟏𝟎𝟎! 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬… 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐩.

𝟓𝟕°. 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.

(And then, with a sign-off that still makes me smile: "𝐵𝑜𝑏, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑔𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑙.")

I love this letter not just for its poetry and precision, but for what it represents – someone far from the Valley, standing on the side of a road in the dark, counting meteors, orienting himself by constellations, using the sky as both map and meaning.

That’s what Head in the Clouds Amherst has always hoped to be: an invitation to notice. To be curious. To step outside, literally or figuratively, and look up.

As we head into 2026, my wish for all of us is simple: may you find moments like Bob’s. Clear skies. Unexpected beauty. And reasons to pause, tilt your head back, and remember you’re part of something vast and wonderful.

Here’s to a new year full of clouds, stars, stories – and the people who take the time to notice them.

(Alas, I did not take this photo of the Geminds over the desert southwest, but I like to think this is what Bob was seeing. Credit: ABC News)

Echoes of celebration

South Pleasant Street & The Amherst Town Common, Amherst MA
Photo by Joshua Wolfsun

This featured photo for January – and the opening image of the 2026 Head in the Clouds Amherst calendar – comes from Joshua Wolfsun, who photographed this scene along South Pleasant Street and the Amherst Town Common.

I’ve always loved how Joshua captured this early January dawn: holiday lights still sparkling, their glow reflected on icy streets. The scene feels both rare and familiar, holding that fleeting moment when the old year has passed but the echoes of celebration still linger.

For 2026, the final edition of our calendar, the jury selected their favorite images from more than a decade of past calendars rather than issuing an open call. This photograph originally appeared as the December image in our 2018 calendar, though it was actually taken just after the New Year – which feels exactly right for a scene suspended between endings and beginnings. ✨❄️

Behind-the-scenes

A little behind-the-scenes moment this morning from Head in the Clouds Amherst that made me smile – and also felt worth sharing, as we head into the last days of December and the very beginning of the new year.

Here’s a note I received at 7:30 am from a would-be calendar buyer who was writing to cancel their order:

“Hi so sorry I got excited about the local flavor and bought this, and immediately got scolded by my wife because she needs our calendar to have empty days for writing stuff in. If I can cancel, I'd appreciate it. Sorry for false alarm!”

And here was my reply:

“Hi there – not to worry. I am happy to cancel your order. Please reassure your wife that all is well, no money wasted. This definitely isn't a calendar for anyone who wants to use it as a planner. Rather, it's for weather- and history-curious folks who like to entertain themselves (and everyone around them) with obscure but fascinating weather tidbits, like when Factory Hollow in North Amherst was hit by a tornado in the 1800s, what Massachusetts weather greeted the Mayflower in 1620, or what day in the fall was supremely beautiful in 2025. It's all good.”

And honestly? That pretty much sums it up. 😄

This calendar is not for scheduling dentist appointments or soccer practice. It’s for people who love this place, who look up at the sky a little too often, who enjoy knowing what came before and noticing what’s happening right now.

As of today (December 30), there are just a handful left – about half a dozen – and once they’re gone, that’s it forever, as 2026 is our last year. If you’ve been on the fence, or if you know someone who would enjoy a year of local skies, strange weather history, and Valley beauty… now’s the moment. Order through Etsy: https://etsy.me/4sjv2UN

Thanks, as always, for following along – and for being the kind of community that appreciates “local flavor,” even when it earns a gentle scolding at home. ☁️💙