Rainbows

We have a pretty basic point and shoot digital camera. But I am not sure even with a fancy schmancy SLR type that we could have gotten a better shot. Rainbows are by their nature, such transient gifts!

We had a storm the other night and this rainbow was the gift at sunset. I'd never seen a sunset rainbow before. Actually this was a double rainbow but the double part really isn't visible in any of the shots Kirsty took. Robbie was still up and got to see it with us. KC had fallen asleep and only got to hear about it and see the shots that we took the next day.

I love rainbows. Maybe because they are so very short lived, I don't really know but they seem so magical to me.

Tonight was a magical night at the park too. We go virtually every night that the weather is even remotely pleasant. Today it was better than remotely nice. It was gorgeous. Warm but with a nice breeze.

Who we meet at the park varies a bit from one night to another. There are a few regulars but not always. Tonight it was a lot of new kids and it was fun. A year ago, KC would not have been happy to have new kids to play with but he is so much more outgoing now. And Elisabeth was charging around with a group of kids as well.

It varies too how chatty and friendly the parents are on any given night. My problem is that I can't not strike up a conversation with people. Kirsty is more able to pretend that she is just there in her bubble, but I have to chatter with folks. Sometimes this is a lot of fun and I meet people who are genuinely neat to spend time with. Sometimes it isn't but I am willing to risk it. Tonight was a fun night.

There was a really nice black mom there with her 3 y/o son. He was playing with Elisabeth. The mom was very pregnant and is going to have a little girl in about a month. We talked about the way raising boys and girls is so different, and how intellectually it doesn't seem like it should be, yet it so profoundly is. She liked Elisabeth's name; it was a contender as a middle name for the baby she is carrying. We talked about hair. Her son had the sweetest two strand twists and his hair was long, too. She admired Lissa's hair (whew! inside I was so doing the happy dance!) and we marveled that at 2 she was almost as tall as her 3 y/o.

There was another mom there with 3 children, 2 girls and a little boy. We laughed because her gender breakdown was the opposite of the little crew that I bring to the park. They had their dog with them, an aging but friendly small black pooch--or a woof as Lissa calls all dogs. We enjoyed talking about the way our heads keep swivelling working to keep all 3 of our kids in sight. We laughed, watching KC go charging by playing some imaginary game with her kids. We all laughed when the silly dog climbed the steps up to the slide and then stood there at the top, utterly bemused on what he was supposed to do now that he was there.

My city is not typically all that Norman Rockwellesque. I don't think pretty much anyplace truly is, but tonight came pretty close. I know it was just a respite, coming at a very good time, after a very emotionally challenging week, but it was wonderful!