Unexpected Gifts

We had rain yesterday. Real rain. Not just a sprinkling. Not just a smattering. Not just a drizzle. Rain. And the temperature dropped about twenty degrees. It was WONDERFUL!

It started midafternoon with a lot of thunder and some lightning. Then came the wind, and finally the rain. Definitely worth waiting for.

While standing out on the back patio enjoying every second of the cloudiness and the breeze and the smell (!), I noticed that my bougainvilla had fallen over. It is on a trellis/arbor and is just starting to get big. It's not the first time it's fallen over, but I'm always a bit alarmed because I don't want it to break or be damaged at all. I'm waiting (ever so impatiently) for it to climb up and over the top of the arbor and cover it. (Besides, I hate it when I know a plant has been damaged because I can almost hear them in pain. I also can't walk by the 50% off shelf in the garden center at the home improvement store without bringing a couple of poor babies home for some TLC. )

After the rain had subsided, I was standing in my kitchen looking out the window, watching the birds return the feeders. I looked over towards the bougainvilla, thinking that I needed to get my plant tape or some string and go out and stand it back up, hoping that it wasn't broken. When I looked, though, I saw a pair of doves sitting side by side on one of the branches. I smiled and thought to myself, "Now there. You see? If it hadn't fallen over, those two little honeys wouldn't have a spot to sit side by side." And I ran to grab my camera. I didn't think I could get close enough, even with the zoom on, to get a very good picture, but I was going to try (because that's what I'm beginning). By the time I snuck outside and tiptoed to the edge of the patio, they had moved apart. I snapped a photo anyway, a little disappointed that I'd missed "that moment." And then they flew away.

But when I turned around to head back to the house, I looked up and saw the beginning of a rainbow.

I kept an eye on it, but this was all I was ever able to see. And it was enough.

Today it is sunny again. And hot. And humid. But I have a rainbow in my heart and life is good.