More Sunsets and Rainbows

The other day we had another glorious rainbow.  As we photographed it, thunder sounded all around us and the wind nearly knocked us over.  We were also getting rained on lightly.  And we thought of our recently dead friend, Fred Stern, who made rainbows.  The rainbow itself looked not unlike the one used on the blog's masthead -- or whatever that's called.

We got better than two-tenths of an inch during the 24-hour period.  0.235 inches, by my examination of the rain gauge Sunday morning at 6:30.   Not a lot, some places.  Wonderful here.

The rainbow inspired me to transfer a few other recent images from camera card to computer drive and play around with 'em a little:

A favorite: just a graceful hesperaloe in late afternoon

It looks all right untreated, too

And a recent sunset

which I preferred as a somewhat moody painting.

We get a lot of visitors all day

and they strike a variety of nutty poses.

Bumblebees

. . . enjoy Bird of Paradise blossoms

And like the acanthus outside my office window, too.

but i couldn't decide which treatment i liked better

The previous evening I sat on a bench watching the sunset for a long time.

It was clean and clear, also worked as a painting, I thought. 

Meanwhile, above the ocotillo the crescent moon looked down from just above a cloud catching the sun's last rays.