Mother Nature - She is wonderful!

Every once in a while, I get re-awoken to the wonder of the world around me. We went shopping today and on the way back, we took the scenic route through the back roads around Dinas Powys.

The sun shone down on rolling green fields, the birds were singing in the trees that we passed through and the sky was bright blue with high brushstrokes of cirrus cloud. It really was the most beautiful summer's day.

Then as we went around a roundabout, I looked up at a cloud and spotted a rainbow cloud. All of the others were white. This one was rainbow striped. I did a double take. I wound down the window and stuck my head out, almost losing it to a passing van.

It was still a Rainbow Striped Cloud.

"Daniel, am I seeing things or is that cloud coloured?" I asked.

He glanced up as we came to a junction. "Yup. It's a rainbow cloud."

We discussed what had caused it to be rainbow coloured. Refracting light through ice crystals, the angle we were at to be able to see it, the size and shape of the ice crystals... It doesn't matter how much I understand about the process of creating a rainbow, seeing one always fills me with wonder.

And this Rainbow Striped Cloud caused more wonder than normal. Each colour faded delicately through the different hues, the brushstroke structure of the cirrus cloud making it look like Mother Nature had been experimenting with the sky colour and couldn't decide which colour to choose.

I began looking at things in detail again.

Have you ever studied a leaf from underneath when the sun is shining through it? The fine veins that run out from the main structure join together in a web that a spider would be proud of.

The seeds on a ripening strawberry turn red first then fade as the fruit itself reddens. At one point the strawberry is green with red spots!

Have you smelt a Sweet Pea flower recently? Its scent is so strong it feels like the smell is coating your throat with honey, you can taste the nectar - no wonder the bees like them!

I even looked at my sunflower blooms closely. The head of a sunflower is actually made up of a hundred or so tiny flowers surrounded by the bigger petals. Each tiny flower makes a single seed and that in itself is a wonder of nature.

Colours are everywhere; green predominantly, but yellow; white; pink and red... blue; purple; orange; all the hues and shades between. Mother Nature loves her colours.

And I love Mother Nature.

That Rainbow Cloud will stick in my mind for a long time. I wish I'd had a camera with me so I could show it to you, but you'll have to make do with my memory in words.

I just hope it's enough.