Storm Beauty

Last night, we "raced" (no we didn't speed... we can't afford the gas these days) down the 400 with the threat of a major storm visible to the west of us for the entire journey. Extreme thunderstorm warnings were issued as well as tornado watches for the entire area. To the west of us, 'tornadic' activity had been spotted. We just wanted to get home, and unload the car, before the skies opened up. We saw downed and uprooted trees along the way. It didn't look promising. But true liveaboards never run from a storm. In fact, most liveaboards WILL race home when a storm is coming, just to tie an extra line or to make sure everything is battened down. While most people will jump at the chance to leave their home when bad weather is coming, a liveaboard will cancel plans in order to stay home. That doesn't mean I like to stay in when the boat is tossing and turning on a nasty day. Quite the opposite. I've explained to my dear man that when other people cosy up at home with their children because they would never think of taking them out in this weather, that is when I take my toddler to the closest mall. Nothing like unsteady, rolling, tossing floors to upset a toddlers fine sense of 'balance'. But we don't venture far.

Well, we got home and unloaded the car with big fat drops of rain falling slowly around us. The kind of raindrops you can almost dodge, if you're stealthy enough, but will blind you temporarily if one gets you in the eye. It was a race, or so we thought. Got everything inside and even managed to set up the air conditioner (supposed to be some humid day today), with no big rainfall. Then it stopped. Nothing. No rain. No thunder. No storm. I'm not complaining. Quite the opposite. What happened next was just one of God's great gifts to us. And I got pictures. I brightened up a couple of them so you could see the colours better. But I left one darker so you could better appreciate how it really looked. The rainbow seemed to appear in the midst of a very dark and turbulent sky. True beauty.