There was a large, controlled burn near our part of the world yesterday, and as the sun set I snapped this photo, capturing the smoky tint in the sky.  I love rural evenings -- the way the sunlight colors the fields and fills the clouds -- and this one was so very beautiful.  After the sunset we stayed up late to watch the stars.  Billions of them came into view, many shining through a wide swath of the Milky Way.  Fabulous!

In Painted Boots, Aspen notices the sky.  A lot.  It's one of the first things she mentions to Kyle.  Her need to stare at the stars interrupts their first date.  Until she moves to Wyoming all she's really known is Portland--and if you don't know, Portland Oregon is a place where it rains a lot and where at night, light pollution washes out the stars.  As I crafted Painted Boots, Wyoming's endless sky became symbolic of Aspen's growth from the closed, contained feelings of grief to the freedom of learning to move on.