A snow-storm, falling all day; wind northeast.

February 18.

Sometimes, when I go forth at 2 P.M. there is scarcely a cloud in the sky, but soon one will appear in the west and steadily advance and expand itself, and so change the whole character of the afternoon and of my thoughts.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, February 18, 1860

change the whole character of the afternoon and of my thoughts.See July 23, 1851("The mind is subject to moods, as the shadows of clouds pass over the earth.") January 26, 1852 ("Would you see your mind, look at the sky. Would you know your own moods, be weather-wise.");  October 28, 1852 ("The clouds lift in the west, — indeed the horizon is now clear all around.Suddenly the light of the setting sun yellows and warms all the landscape. . .”); August 25, 1852 ("What a salad to my spirits is this cooler, darker day!”)

A cloud in the west

can change the whole character

of the afternoon.