Like most everyone, I am sure, by the time another week of stay-at-home ended yesterday, my soul was screaming for escape. But yesterday throughout the Tampa Bay area, the whole day got consumed by a weather front that poured torrential rains surrounded by the heavy roll of thunder and threatening lightning.
The “eedjit” in me was out in the yard for a while building a second structure to keep the wild creatures dry so they could eat their food without getting soaked. And by the time I had finished I had definitely taken the soaking for them.
I am sure the neighbors must have thought I had finally lost what was left of my mind as they drove by this old fool dragging old bits of plywood and mental stands into place for no apparent reason.
By the time I had finished and put out the food for all the raccoons and possums and all my feathered friends, the jacket was quite soaked and the shoes were definitely a bit on the squelchy side.
Now at this stage of the story, others would have been tempted to call it a day and perhaps take a hot shower and change of clothes. But those of us with Irish blood running through our veins know that you should never let a wee bit of rain affect your plans.
And I didn’t. On the contrary, the rain opened up a thought in my head that made me wonder if the lotus had bloomed any further down at UT and what they might look like in the rain.
So, wet or not, I grabbed the camera, climbed into the car, and drove the 45 minutes into downtown Tampa … all in the name of art.
And I wasn’t disappointed. They had definitely opened up more since the start of the week and the beautiful drops on their petals completely outshone the drops that continued to fall on me and my camera as I stretched over the pond to capture their beauty.
There is a wonderful sense of achievement that us hand-held aficionados get when we manage to get a crystal clear shot of macro level while competing against the elements. But several of these shots delivered that reward to me and I hope you enjoy the collection I upload here.
There is even a couple of wayward tadpole shots … the pond was absolutely teaming with them, so it would have been wrong to omit them. And the other thing worth pointing out here is that there is no color correction or photoshopping done to these images … there was no need to. Yes, the camera shifted a white balance a couple of time to make a violet bloom turn blue but I let it. And why not?
So the thought that ran around my head (and there always seems to be one, doesn’t there?) was along the lines of how some people see rain as a deterrent while others see it as a gift.
Rain, both physically and metaphorically, is something that falls into everyone’s life at some stage and the wise choice is to embrace it. Don’t pull your hood up as it only restricts your view and don’t hide under an umbrella as you will miss the wonderful feel of it as it runs down your forehead and washes across your face.
Rain is not only a source of life to the planet but it can be a source of renewal to your soul also.
Our lives should never be all about sunny days. Yes, we all want as many sunny days and blue skies as we can get. But the more we get, the lazier and more complacent we become.
Some get so used to sunny days that they end up thinking it is their right. And they get indignant when a little rain falls into their lives.
There is an old saying that into every life a little rain must fall. And that doesn’t mean we should take it as a negative … that we should just grin and bear it.
No, we should embrace the rain and use it to renew our lives. Use it to refresh our soul and our approach to living. We should let it wash away our dreariness and step out and dance a little in it.
Each drop of rain brings a purpose to our lives and those who recognize that become better people for the experience and better able to handle to next downpour whenever it chooses to fall on us.
Right now, I have images of Gene Kelly running around inside my head (see here if you have forgotten https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ZYhVpdXbQ ) and it wasn’t just an accident that rendered the umbrella as merely a dance prop. It was very much a statement of intent.
Time for each of us to sing and dance, I think. Go ahead, discard your umbrella and get wet a little this week!
