On windy, partly cloudy days such as today, watching cloud shadows from the house can be somewhat distracting.  One can see the shadow come down across the hill to the west, through the valley, and then sweep up the woods and finally across the field, where the edges of the shadow are sharp and clear.  The woods shift between the purple-brown of the shadow and the gold-brown of the sun.  Bands of light will pick out the tree-tops in the valley below the field, sometimes the west hedgerow will be briefly backlit, each tree suddenly defined.  The varying light not only highlights individual trees, it also makes the change in elevation more apparent, especially when the valley has sun and the hilltops do not.  The landscape, on days like today, is alive with motion and color. Very distracting.