Rainbow Connections and Such

It would have been the most wonderful photo op.

I chose to pass up the opportunity.

This morning, after turning the horses out to the first pasture, I headed to the hay field where they usually graze.

They're in the much closer first pasture because a little later today, Terra will come, and we'll take Lily over to Barbara and Laurie's indoor arena.

So, with horses heads to the ground nibbling away at their breakfast, I thought a walk through the hay field would be nice. 

I now have wet pant legs because even the brush-hogged trails still have rather tall, wet grass. 

About mid field, I turned off on the trail leading to the woods and was pleasantly surprised to see pink roses on a big bush near the fence.  

This year I've noticed a couple of blossoming wild rose bushes in our woods.  Seems amazing it would take that long for plant life to regenerate after goats had grazed the place before we moved here----14 years and my first sighting of that blooming bush. 

I love the nice surprises that come along in the natural world.  So, a few minutes later, after almost completing my circle on the hay field trails, I noticed a gray blob in the grass just off the trail. 

On second look, I realized it was a lone turkey lying in the grass in a seemingly frozen state.  No eye contact, no movement whatsoever. 

So, I reached in my pocket for my cell phone to take a picture.  That's when she jumped up and began her turkey trot away from where I'd spotted her. 

She didn't go far, and then she began a slow motion circle around the area where she had been lying. 

That signaled to me the possibility that the spot might have served as the bedding area for more than one adult turkey.

Taking a step closer, I looked, and, sure enough, three tiny turkey babies mimicked their mom's motionless state.

So cute.  So tiny.  Such a wonderful opportunity for a picture.  Mom kept an eye on me and kept circling.

"It's okay," I said, "I'll leave them alone." 

Heading on my way, I thought how neat that photo would have been, but Mom's assurance that nobody was gonna bother her babies made me feel happy with my choice to walk away. 

After all, on this morning, I was still smiling about the moment last night after the rain storm when Annie had hollered from the deck, "Mom, get your camera . . . a double rainbow!" 

Hurrying outside and taking pictures of that natural phenomenon was not gonna upset anybody's apple cart. 

So, for about ten minutes, both Annie and I walked around snapping pictures of the perfect double rainbow which appeared to extend from north of us to Taylor's farm buildings in the field across the road. 

Soon, Bill came in the driveway from his afternoon of fishing at Grouse Creek.  He reported that the north end of the rainbow appeared at the Leedy house north of us where Willie and Debbie are staying.

The scene was both remarkable and exhilarating, especially because we'd all been getting a full dose of yesterday's depressing news aka "noise." 

It gets more depressing by the day, especially when you read that the present strategy of our so-called leaders--- emboldened with a stunning sense of callousness---is to train us Americans to just learn to live with this Pandemic.  

When you read stuff like the following quote from Twitter, it does not exactly make your day: 

For some reason, I find it both strange and disturbing that we're supposed to just sit back for months on end (or at least until the election) accepting that people are gonna die simply because people do die.

When people do NOT need to die and when something (some very simple things) can be done to drastically cut the numbers of deaths, it seems worth the effort. 

Again, some of us enjoy our lives and want to continue doing so.

Anyway, that double rainbow experience was indescribable and comforting in the midst of such a disturbing atmosphere.  

Many of us have grown up learning about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  

It seems----especially in this crazy, upside-down, present-day world----that a pot of gold to one person might project a completely different meaning to another person. 

And, so I choose to believe that the pot of gold these double rainbows projected after last night's rain storm was  a beautiful dose of hope for better times ahead. 

If nothing else, it was a magnificent and magical scene to behold and to hold on to with a sense of hope. 

May we please have better times ahead, and may we live through all this "noise" to see them. 

Happy Wednesday.