When many of us are wee nippers, we stare up at the clouds in fascination at the various and multifarious fantastic forms simple water droplets are capable of creating in our atmosphere. As Joni Mitchell once sang it, “rows and flows of angel hair/ and ice cream castles in the air/and feather canyons everywhere”.

Then, when we start flying in jet airliners, we finally get to see the other side of these great puffy, wispy wonders. But beyond simply marveling (at least at first, before it becomes ho-hum) at the sight of those great cottony expanses spreading out around you, do you ever wonder at the shapes you see out your airplane window?

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