Rain and Color

I had ceramics class on Saturday (it's usually on Thursday night but with Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving we lost two class days so we have to come in on Saturday). It was raining on and off most of the day. The school I'm attending started out as an agricultural community college and it retains some of that feel still - lots of trees and green areas. They still have a farm and animals (but I hear rumors that they're going to drop the Animal Science programs).

Anyway, as I said, it was raining on Saturday. One of the things I really like about the rain is what it does to trees. It makes their bark very dark and in contrast makes leaves and grass look brighter. I walked around the grounds near the classroom taking photos for a little while. Yes, I'm easily distracted, but hey, I'd been working on my clay creations pretty much non-stop for 5 hours by the time I took my photo break.
 

I wanted to shoot the clouds, but the coolest looking ones were in the direction of the sun and I wouldn't have been able to capture the subtleties of color that I was seeing.  There was also the widest, brightest rainbow I've ever seen that day! It only went up from the ground for a short way (wasn't a complete rainbow arch) but it was amazingly bright for just a couple of minutes (of course, NOT the minutes I had a camera in my hand). I did get a couple of shots, but it was fading by then.I love seeing rainbow and snow on the mountaintops.

Taking pictures on a rainy day can be quite beautiful. I took some when I was down in San Diego this past February (see dates Feb 1 and 14). The lights and buildings were reflecting off the streets. I thought it was cool anyway. So don't let the rain keep you from taking pictures. Get a raincoat for your camera and you're good to go!

Where there's rain...

...there's a rainbow! I can't help myself. If it's raining and the sun comes out, even the slightest bit, I'm out looking for rainbows.

If it has to be raining I would much rather be: 1) walking out in it (as long as I have really good rain boots) or 2) at home in front of the fire with a good book and a hot drink. The last place I want to be is working when it's raining. At least it rained hard enough to wash the dirt off my car instead of just making mud.

The rain was very distracting today and thus I did not get much work done. I spent a lot of time looking out the window watching the rain. It was so windy today at times the rain was horizontal! Have you ever noticed how the rain sounds just like frying bacon? True. And have you ever noticed how clean everything looks the next sunny day after a hard rain? The trees are all shiny (well, at least the one's that aren't lying broken in the street - I saw several of those on my way home tonight).

Soon enough all the hillsides will be lush and green again. And so goes the wheel of the year turning along.