Where does the rainbow end,
in your soul or on the horizon?~ Pablo Neruda, The Book of Questions
Yesterday evening, the sea and river took to the sky. Jellyfish and other sea creatures appeared to be swimming in the clouds.
Sometime close to sunset, the leading edge of the storms bringing us a cool front approached from the north and west. Ahead of the clouds were what looked like broken up pieces of a rainbow.
I have never seen a phenomenon like it. When I first caught a glimpse of the colors while looking out one of the windows, I thought “sun dog.” But then I stepped outside and saw the big picture and it didn’t look like any sun dog I’ve ever seen. It was too spread out across the sky.
The Daily Challenge from WordPress this week is ROY G. BIV. ROY G. BIV shows up here on the Eastern Shore quite frequently, stretching himself out in an arc across the sky, his legs standing in the loblolly pines, the marsh, the lagoon, or the meadows. Sometimes his twin accompanies him, and we call that a double rainbow.
Walk on a rainbow trail; walk on a trail of song, and all about you will be beauty. There is a way out of every dark mist, over a rainbow trail.
~ Robert Motherwell
I don’t know how long the phenomenon lasted. I spent about ten or fifteen minutes watching and photographing it. As the wind picked up and the lightning approached, going indoors seemed the wise thing to do.
We spent most of the evening under a severe thunderstorm warning. The sky did put on quite a show of lightning. The thunder rumbled along.
The wind gusted now and then, and we received about a half inch of rain for the gardens.
I am grateful to report that as far as I can tell, there was no damage here at the ranch. A few small branches were thrown to the ground and there is other debris from the trees here and there. The flowers and vegetables in the gardens all looked quite cheerful this morning when I went out to visit them. The rain did them good. The high heat we’ve had this week really dried things out again.
That’s about it from the Wabi-Sabi Ranch on this mostly sunny (and not at all wordless) Wednesday. Thank you for visiting. Sunrise this morning had its share of rainbow colors, and I have a feeling sunset this evening (at 8:29) will be interesting. Let’s go down to the Point and watch the show. It should be pleasant. Behind the storm was some cooler, drier weather, and after the nearly 100°F day we had yesterday, it feels pretty good.
Be good, be kind, be loving. Just Be. 🙂
Today’s joys: Raindrops sparkling in the morning sun; a long morning walk; a cool breeze; time to sit on the dock and watch the turtles swimming in the creek; time to listen to the birds chatter, chirp, and sing.
That is odd. It reminds me of the northern lights (aurora borealis) – could even be the same conditions causing it. The storm here last night was fierce, but it didn’t look like we actually got rain. It must have been wind only.
Nancy
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Robin I wonder if what you saw was the Aurora Borealis – which I believe is now sometimes visible during the day in certain conditions and is visible in climes further south than usual also due to the unusual activity on our sun. These conditions are affecting our sightings of the Southern Lights also. I was reading an interesting article recently which also pondered the question if the high level of activity on the sun was effecting our somewhat unusual weather conditions. I wish I’d kept it as now I want to go back and check my facts.
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Very nice! Love the flying fish!
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I’m pretty sure it was auroras that you saw. The northern light have begun putting on a show this week, in areas south of where you might normally expect to see them. And of course, they don’t know how to tell time so they are active round the clock.
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Well, I love your rainbow trout. I’ve also enjoyed the visibility of the rainbow in clouds when I have sunglasses on. It’s pretty neat.
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We get those rainbow clouds occasionally too. It’s caused by ice crystals, the degree of angle of the sun, etc, but Google can explain it better than I.
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Beautiful sky portraits Robin.
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Love this beautiful gallery!
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Robin, I tagged you on Facebook, a couple of years ago I saw one of these and got a picture. Some folks thought it was an iridescent cloud, a nacreous cloud, or a mother-of-pearl cloud. Yours does look like a rainbow trout!
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Really great pictures! As other commenters were saying, I did hear that the northern lights were being seen as far south as Pennsylvania this year. No clear view of anything so cool as that around here! Your “morning after” flower is beautiful. Is that a variety of sunflower?
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What a cool phenomenon you’ve captured here, Robin! Love seeing rainbows, but this prismatic display is quite unusual. Glad you were there with camera to share it with us! Some shots look like watercolor paintings.
Love your beautiful sunflower, too! ❤
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Well, this caught my attention so I had to look it up. Did you? I found out what it is here:
http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/05/fire-rainbows-rare-cloud-phenomenon.html
This is a lovely post.
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What an utterly delightful post. It contained two of my favorite things: clouds and rainbows. How lucky you (and we) were to catch them!
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You did capture quite a show on the sky. Simply beautiful.
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