a holiday

[underused]

Today was a weird, good day. Everything seemed to align in a way that made me feel content. We did some work in the garden and had beer and hot dogs for lunch. I spent an hour on the phone catching up with a friend. I read part of a trashy book and had a nap. Most importantly, we had a thunderstorm and, soon after, a rainbow in our garden.



I have never seen the end of a rainbow before. I don't know it had ever occurred to me there would be one. And yet, I looked out the window and there it was, an ephemeral shimmer at the edge of some cedars, its colour wavering against the wet grass. If I could, I'd have raced to stand inside that light, just to know. Would the world have looked different or would it have been imperceptible? (I'm a grown up, sensible person, but I know I'd have made a wish.)

I tried to take a picture but--and this was another surprise--rainbows move. (Should I have known that? Science!) By the time I snapped the shutter, my rainbow was past the creek--then in the adjacent field--then hovering at the next concession road in the distance. I was the only one who'd seen this marvellous thing.

Now, the neighbour is having a huge party with an ostentatious display of fireworks for our national holiday. He's a jackass, but the lights are pretty over the trees. The fireflies in the yard are flickering like mad, and a passing pickup truck has pulled over for the free show.

♦♦♦

 

 

Two photos taken moments apart. The rainbow base on the left is just past the treeline; on the right, it's almost at the end of the field.

(Also, bonus double rainbow. ☺)