Photographer's Log Photographer's Log

After the Rainbow
While my friend, Cheryl, and I had been enjoying pizza at House of Pizza in Greenwich this past August the sky darkened to deepest greys and it began pouring huge water drops in massive sheets. The storm continued throughout our whole meal. The sky was still pretty dark when we left the eatery but it was near sundown. Just before I got into my car I looked back at the mall and saw the most magnificently colored rainbow I’d ever experienced and pointed it out to Cheryl. We stood for a few minutes taking photos and I deduced it’s other end must be somewhere over by the Washington County Fairgrounds. We climbed into the car and went rainbow chasing!

Finding a twisting road leading behind the Fairgrounds we realized, too late, we had lost the rainbow, but what we did find surely made up for our loss. This panoramic sunset at a farm on the roadside was absolutely spectacular. We parked and drank up the quiet beauty, taking photos to our hearts’ content.

While we stood in the road a car came barreling towards us and went on by. The driver, whose tail lights you can see far down the road in this photo, did not even seem to be aware of the spectacular light show God was putting on for all of our enjoyment.

It is saddening that we spend so much energy being in a hurry, focusing just within ourselves or just in front of ourselves in our lives. I wonder how many of God’s gifts we really do miss because of how we choose to focus our lives. Maybe blood pressure points might go down for some folks if we could stop now and then to watch a sunset on our way home. Instead we drive home from work swearing through traffic and tearing down lovely back roads we choose to use only as short cuts, racing to get home in order to cook dinner, do laundry, get groceries or keep appointments. Appointments we could have scheduled for 30 minutes later so we could have relaxed on our drive home, and maybe even stopped to just be still and become a part of a peaceful sunset scene.

Oh, what that passing driver missed as he sped by us. A part of me likes to think his home was just up the road and when he pulled into his driveway he then stood there for a while, somewhere in the evening along with Cheryl and me, enjoying the peace, the colors, the fresh smell of after the rain, the sounds of the animals going to bed. Yes, I’d like to think that for him. -June Mohan
Photos: (Copyright Mohan 2006) To contact the artist, please send email to: junemohan@hotmail.com.