I Love a Rainy Night

I went hiking today in a place near my house. 

I live on a triangular peninsula that points south. The peninsula is formed by the ocean on the eastern side, and a bay into which a large river empties on the western side. Portions of the peninsula--along the waterfront--are densely urban and densely industrial. This industrial and urban zone is somewhat wider on the eastern side. On the western side, it occupies only a narrow strip of land along the lowest elevation. The remaining portion of the peninsula--the western central part--forms a large park, with peaks and valleys, wide hiking trails, narrow footpaths, lookouts, and so on. I would guess it is about 10 square kilometers in size--pretty big for a city park. It abuts an even larger tract of undeveloped land to the north, perhaps twice as large. 

When I set out, I could see a large, rather majestic-looking cloud bank over the ocean, to the east. When I finally got up on a lookout on one of the small peaks within the park, there was the most wonderful rainbow arcing down between the cloud bank and the water. It was much brighter than my cell phone camera is able to show, but this is the picture I took:

To be privy to this view--the combination of pure blue sky above, the detail in the cloud bank, and (what it looked like with the naked eye) vibrant rainbow underneath--was like a gift.

Later, just after sundown, as I walked along the path that runs down the western side of the peninsula, looking out over the bay, the cloud bank had finally arrived over top of me, and it started to rain, a little bit at first, then more heavily. I was able to stop and take this picture:

You can see the leading edge of the cloud bank at the top of the picture. The view was enchanting--the lights from the ships, the shape and texture of the cloud along the horizon, the lights from the oil refineries on the far shore, and the whole scene cast in the special quality of diminished light that only dusk can produce.  

I walked back an hour in the dark, in the chilly rain. When I was young, sometimes my mom, dad, and I would have an outside chore to do on a cold winter afternoon. Our hands would get pleasantly numb from the cold. We would often finish well after sundown. Then we'd go inside to the warm kitchen to eat a delicious meal together, listening to big band or country music on my mom's cassette recorder--tired and cold, but happy.

When I got back home this evening, I made myself a tasty omelet with onions and Laughing Cow cheese. I turned on Eddie Rabbit's "I Love a Rainy Night".

Me, too--I love a cold, rainy winter night!