Radical amazement

Serendipity and synchronicity. (Thanks, Kathy!)

These beautiful days … do not exist as mere pictures – maps hung upon the walls of memory to brighten at times when touched by association or will … They saturate themselves into every part of the body and live always.

~ John Muir

Sunset’s rainbow

Do you remember my post from last week with the quote about radical amazement?  Do you think it might have been a wish clumsily cast out into the universe?  I’m beginning to believe it might have been, and now Mother Nature and the Universe have conspired to make it come true.

A flock of seagulls, wings lit up by the sun, fly through the rainbow.

Just before sunset yesterday evening, I was in the kitchen preparing dinner.  As I thinly sliced cabbage, and chopped onions and carrots, I glanced out the window from time to time.  Looking up from the mincing of the garlic, I noticed the light had changed.  It was no longer gray and dreary and rainy.  It was bright and colorful.  I thought about grabbing the camera and going outside just to capture the amazing light, but decided I should keep working on dinner since it was a labor intensive meal and would take time to complete.  Then I had second thoughts, grabbed the camera, walked to the front door, and stepped out into the world of Radical Amazement.  I think I know how Dorothy felt when she left Kansas, and walked out the door into the Land of Oz.

Everything is incredible

A double rainbow stretched out across the sky.  I couldn’t see it from the kitchen because it arced over the narrow view from the windows.  I would have missed it if I hadn’t stepped outside.  And while I stood there, awestruck, hundreds of seagulls flew through the rainbow, their wings lit up by the sun.  The photos I took don’t look nearly as beautiful as what I saw.  I don’t think there is a camera in the world that could have captured it.  I tried anyway, because I wanted to share it with you.  I have never, ever, seen anything like it.  I am grateful that I stopped what I was doing, put on my shoes, grabbed the camera, and went out into the light of the evening.

Wonder

One of the rainbows faded as the other grew stronger in light and color.  The new camera, by the way, allowed me to do this:

Full arc

It’s the first time I’ve been able to capture an entire rainbow in one shot.

Double beauty

Sunsets are so beautiful that they almost seem as if we were looking through the gates of heaven.

~ John Lubbock

The rainbow wasn’t the end of it.  Oh no.  It was just the beginning, and all I had to do was turn around to see more color, more light, more beauty.

Turn around

There is no language of the holy.  The sacred lies in the ordinary.

~ Deng Ming-Dao

Fire in the sky

You might think the sunset would be the end.  Sunrise this morning had surprises, too.  Let’s have one more look at the sunset, and then move on to this morning.

Beautiful, beautiful sky

This morning brought fog and golden sunlight shining through the trees and meadows.

Sunbeams near the lagoon.

There’s more, but it’s time for me to go.  We have a lot going on at the Wabi-Sabi Ranch today.  JT is framing the addition, while two other men are installing a wood burning stove.  It’s noisy and chaotic.  Truck traffic has pretty much torn up the driveway and some of the backyard.  All the rain has made a muddy, sloppy mess of things so you have to be careful where you walk.  We’ll get all that straightened out when the major work on the house is finished.

Morning speaks

Thank you for stopping by.  I hope Wednesday brought you wonders to enjoy.

Dripping gold

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂