Chasing Rainbows

Which sounds like it should be a song…and apparently is, at least three times. But this isn’t about that.

Scattered showers all day after some pretty solid rain last night. Great! We needed it! Finally, this afternoon about 16:00 I noticed some sunlight out in front. But it still looked damp and drizzly. Good conditions for rainbows, right? Low, bright sun in the west, dark, moody clouds in the east, drizzle in between?

Well…okay. Sort of weak, off to the north, but those white, low clouds just above the rooftops lend atmosphere? Maybe today’s not the day for rainbows after all. So I went into the house and looked out the back doors to the east…

WOWSERS!!

These pictures really, REALLY don’t do justice to how stinking BRIGHT this rainbow segment was. I’m sure it’s a combination of the bright sun behind us and the dark clouds overhead and behind it, but jeez louise!! It was like some kind of Hollywood special effect, or a cartoon ad for some kids’ cereal!

Maybe for some reason this lens/camera combination isn’t picking up the colors. What about the other camera?

Better… What about the cell phone?

Better! And part of the problem is all of the bushes and trees in the way. Move! Bob and weave! Serpentine!!

There we go! It was amazing, truly.

I played with the exposure settings on the iPhone a couple of times – some seemed to work and bring out more contrast in color.

To the naked eye, it was trivially easy to see the (left to right, inside to outside) violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red bands. And even more amazing, it was out there for a good half hour or more. It faded a bit after those first couple of minutes, but it stuck around for a while!

Maybe that’s a sign. We could use some beauty and peace and calm in the world right now. There’s plenty of good out there, but it’s a royal pain to have to sort through so much bullshit to find it. Having it splashed across the sky so much that it literally makes you yell “WOW!” when you see it? That’s a good thing.