This website does something differently from most other sites. In most cases this is because I want it that way not because I don't know how to do what others are doing. One of the flaws of the internet is a preference for stimulation over contemplation. I think that the most meaningful measure of time for a human being is the season. One difference is that I don't like to alter my pictures unless absolutely necessary. I think that boosting the contrast, heightening the color saturation hight dynamic range never looks as good as a clear well-composed picture taken in natural light. Sometimes no picture can do the subject justice. Sometimes you just have to be there. The night sky in the high desert is one of those things. If you were to ask me what is the most worthwhile thing to see in eastern Oregon, I would say the night sky in August. You have never really seen the stars until you have seen them in the high desert. It's partially the altitude, of course, but it is also the dryness of the air and the absence of artificial lights. But I can't show you a picture of it. Of course people take all kinds of pictures of the night sky. Time exposures, color enhanced photos, cgi simulations, but none of them capture the real thing. For one thing the sky moves. It moves slowly and usually we don't really notice but if you can stop moving and just watch, you can see it move. For another thing, it is really big. No photo can capture that. Some experiences, if you want to know what it is like, you just have to be there. Until you have spent the night under the high desert sky, you have never really seen the milky way. If you sit and watch the sky, after a while you can directly perceive that it is moving. Of course you don't need to travel to eastern Oregon to sit and watch the stars. Unless you have become so addicted to a constant stream of entertainment and stimulation that you have lost the ability to sit and focus on just one thing for a period of hours.You do not necessarily have to go to the mountains. I never get tired of the view from just outside my back door. But if you travel any distance to come here, you might as well go the full route. I would suggest the Wallowas or the Steens mountains as a first choice but really, it's all good. It's also awesome in the strict and literal sense of the word infinite for human purposes and free. Those of you who have read this far may be wondering why this issue of the gazette is titled Nubistry and is full of pictures of clouds. Since the true night sky cannot be photographed, I included pictures of the daytime sky. This in turn ineluctably leads us to Nubistry a spirital evolvement. Some spiritual movements are the proselytizing kind who are constantly seeking new members and some are the secret kind who don't. Nubistry is one of the latter.