"More Later"

I have at least a dozen proper essays in my head, but my friend Amy who gently reminds me of the obvious things that everyone else overlooks told me that the most common phrase in my emails to her over the last year had been "More later." By the time she got here to ask me what the more later was, it had been lost or, more like, overwritten. So I'll talk a bit here about some of those essay ideas in just a little conversation.

First, imagine a rainbow by moonlight. I'll help. We have big sky up here and lots of moisture, so we often see great arches of rainbow from horizon to horizon in all their ROYGBIV. I had never really noticed the violet on the bottom end of the rainbow. It is startlingly beautiful. The most vulnerable of the hues. It does often appear to waver while the others hold firm.

Now I leave it to philosophers to decide if there is a rainbow in the sky if no one sees it. We were driving back to the farm after visiting friends last week and I noticed what looked at first like a darkish line against the sky. It was evening and the sun had set but the moon was nearly full. I looked again and realized that there was a rainbow arcing over the road in front of us. "A rainbow!? "

"Ah, a moonbow." Morris commented sagely. Now the minister who married us said Morris would bring wisdom to the relationship. Sometimes he does; sometimes he takes the Mickey with a wry straight face. In the car I can't see how much his eyes are twinkling, so at least for now I accept the term and his additional comment that they do occur but are rare.

Because you are not likely to see a moonbow, I'll give you a description. It is a little like looking at a negative. The arc appears darker against the grey sky until you look closely. The BIV looks like a monochromatic grey but the solidity gives it a luster against the scuttering clouds. The red orange bands at the top look like the embers of a dying fire.

By the time we got to the farm road, the moonbow had disappeared into the evening sky.

Not a proper essay but a little down payment on More Later. Just now I've put on my royal blue boiler suit and pulled wool socks on over my trousers to make it easier to pull on my Wellies. I'll be working with the cattle this morning. I haven't done that for awhile so I am sure they wil lgive us some stories to share.