Halos, Rainbows, and Crepuscular Rays

The best part of rain is the replenishment of our aquifers, reservoirs, and groundwater supplies. I know this is true, but for me it's the endlessly beautiful skies that shift overhead with sunlight and clouds between the storms. We had 2 1/2 inches (6.35 cm) of rain in two days. It was grand. But this is what else those storms brought.

See what I mean? Yeah, the rain is what we need, but these skies are what we love!

The Sky Between Storms

Here in coastal northern California we have received a fine amount of rain over the past few days. Two storms came through, one on Thursday and an even bigger one on Saturday. The sky between storms on Friday was as beautiful as ever. So I went out to take a look. Here's what I saw. (Please click the pics to see the larger image.)

Looking east an hour after sunrise

A hint of iridescence 

The beauty of silver linings

Awesome iridescence for just a few minutes

We were lucky that Saturday morning started with a double rainbow because a windy storm blew in all the rest of the day. It was wild and much welcomed. Then, Sunday morning began with crepuscular rays. We love the time between storms. I'll post the rainbow and rays photos mid week.

And thank you thank you thank you for your thoughtful and kind words on our previous post. It means so much to Roger, my family and me to read your comments. 

Warning: This Is A Very Sad Post

We keep this blog for so many reasons. It's a great place for posting photos of our daily lives. It's been a wonderful place for virtually meeting some delightful human beings across the globe who share their own photos and stories. It's been an absolutely invaluable journal in helping us reconstruct some of our recent history when our memories have failed. It's been a place where we tell some of the happiest and saddest stories of our lives. We always like to tell the happy ones, but the sad ones -- the ones we don't really want to write-- they have to be told too. So, friends, this is a sad story.

Some time last week it might have been on October 15th, my sister Lynn's longtime partner and love took his own life. He had been suffering with bipolar disorder for a long, long time. I have to admit it never occurred to me how damaging bipolar disorder is, even though my twin brother spends his entire work day as a social worker working with bipolars and schizophrenics. I just thought of it as disruptive and difficult mood swings. When I read the literature online about how debilitating and serious it is, I began to understand how deeply Stephen suffered.

Stephen tried. He really tried to keep things intact. Lynn convinced him to see a psychiatrist. He tried all the medications. But he always went back to the alcohol to self-medicate in the most dangerous way. He made two serious attempts to end his life this year, once in March and once in July. My beautiful, brave sister literally saved his life both of those times. But this third attempt took place 2000 miles away, and he told her she was just too far to help. So sad and true. Poor Stephen. 

Dancing at Lynn's daughter's wedding

Stephen was buried with full military honors on October 22nd. We wept and said our farewells into the rainy windy night. My sister is heartbroken in a way that I can hardly begin to fathom. Life has its terrible personal tragedies that leave a person changed forever. 

We hope Stephen found the peace he longed for.

Wordless Wednesday: The Heartbeat of Rain

Two New Birds

American Wigeon

It's been a while since Roger and I saw some birds that we couldn't identify right away. The marsh attracts lots of dabbling ducks. The ponds are full of common sights like the (above) American Wigeon, American Coot, and Mallards. We think we've seen a few Wood Ducks, but the cattails are always very tall around the ponds, which makes sight and photography nearly impossible.

Green-winged Teal

So, we were pretty happy to come across these two beauties the other day at the marsh. We noticed a few ducks in lapping low tide on the bay side of the marsh. The sun was bright, they were backlit and hard to really identify. I took a few pics because I thought I noticed a lovely brown head on the male, a color we hadn't seen before. We watched three females scoot along right on the muddy flats with their bills in the mud, looking for food. They made a great sound in their pursuits. I couldn't wait to get home to see who these two were. Our first Green-winged Teal!

Northern Pintail

We've added a a new trail to our walk that leads to other ponds and extends our walk by a mile. The new ponds have interesting ducks as well. The above photo isn't great (the bird was quite far away), but it's the first Northern Pintail we've ever seen. The Teal and Pintail are not rare birds, but seeing a new bird for the first time is always such a treat. Makes us want to head out everyday to see what new critter we might come across.

Here's a map of the marsh. It'll give you some idea of where we've been out walking.