Double Rainbows...everyday??

I saw a turtle in these clouds...lovely!

Rainbows are just one of those magical natural occurrences that always cause me to smile...ear to ear. Well, if I am completely honest, there are a ton of things about nature that can make me feel overwhelmed with happiness and peace...when I take the time to notice them. You know...smelling the roses kind of a thing. ;o) The more that you do take the time to look up at the sky and fall in love with the blue sky dotted with big fluffy clouds...the way the leaves on trees swirl individually on their branches on a gusty day...the scent of the air just before the rain, mmmmm...the more you remind yourself to do it, the more you will find yourself enjoying these simple yet astounding moments in nature as habit. And I guarantee that nature alone can bring more joy into any one's life.

Have you ever had the joy of seeing a double rainbow? :o) Recently, on our camping trip back home from Manitoba, Clint, Maggie and I saw one. It was breathtaking. I felt moved. I was in an incredibly emotional state at the time. So, when I turned around and there, in all of it's majesty, the Double Rainbow appeared in the sky, my heart was immediately saturated with an abundance of pure bliss. Only minutes earlier, I was full of panic and unease...scared for what was to come. My fear came from the insane and fierce weather that we had just had the "pleasure" of going through. That morning we left beautiful Buffalo Pound Provincial Park, Saskatchewan...the weather was absolute perfection. After driving through Medicine Hat, Alberta we could see that the sky in the horizon was nothing but a dark cloud. We were both like, "Aw maaaan...welcome back to the wet and grey West...just how we left it." We felt so tired from the 4 day drive east, a weekend a fun in the sun and family time, a few days of more family visit and now on day 2 of our drive back West. You know...I love to camp, I think it's pretty awesome...but I like to stay in one spot for at least a couple of nights. We would get to a campsite in the late afternoon, set up, make food to eat, take Maggie on a walk, maybe chill for a bit and then go to bed to wake up early, like 6 amish, make breakfast, pack up camp and head back out onto the road. It was quite exhausting...but still immensely enjoyable...I can not complain about our excellent adventures. But, when you just can't wait to be home in your own space and you look out to see a storm coming your way and darkening your path...it feels so frustrating. When we finally arrived at the Calgary West Campground, (not an excellent spot...it's like being in a can of sardines with absolute zero privacy and the sardines next to you are kind of rotten.) the clouds overhead were dark grey, HUGE and looking quite menacing. There was even this cloud that looked like a funnel...which one of the dudes in the campground office also exclaimed to me while I was checking in. (Nice...thanks for that, man!) In my mind, I am freakin' losing it at this point. I wanted to just turn around and go get a hotel/motel room somewhere...yet I knew there really was no $$ in the budget for that...booooo, I felt. As I am checking in, a super booming thunder and flash of lightening occurred right above our heads. The dude checking me in fell to the ground, I screamed as did everyone else around...it shook the ground. Wah!! I just couldn't believe we were going to pitch tent in such a hostile environment...well, we did. We parked at our very open to the elements and every other camper site around, and Clint started hauling out all of the equipment while I quickly called my mom to tell her we arrived at the campsite...but we might die! I didn't exactly use those words, but there was a part of me that was trying to convey how scary and dire the situation seemed to me and that maybe she would say..."go get a hotel room and we'll pay for it!" She didn't...she IS a good mom...she is a smart mom. Deal with it is basically what she was saying...figure it out on our own. Of course...you are 36 years old Pam...yet it still seems like the first thing I do when I am sick or scared, or REALLY happy...I call my mommy. ;o) I got off the phone to a panicked Clint trying to set the tent up as fast as possible on his own because now it has started to rain. I help as best as I can...I can't get the fly over the tent on my own though and Clint is almost done getting the poles up and done. We get the fly on as it starts pouring...I haul Maggie out of some tall grass and thin bush where she is eating something...I don't even want to know what it was! I drag her into the tent where Clint is calling us...we zip up the door...it starts to hail 1" nuggets. Ahhhhhhh. It was so loud in the tent as they pelted the roof and made access for the rain to penetrate through the fly AND the tent. Thank goodness Maggie is deaf. The wind was so harsh and furious...I kept looking out a window for the funnel cloud to sweep us into the freaky dark sky...I was scared. I don't like to say that...I am tough...but nature is a strong force. Another reason to respect it. ;o) The storm lasts about 10-15 minutes...it ended as fast as it began...in a flash! We made it through...is it REALLY over? We abandon our wet and chilly shelter and stand out in the open...the wind so strong it is managing to push those evil clouds away from us...we can see blue sky in the close distance. The road is a rushing creek still from the flash flood of rain. Thankfully no one has the campsite at the bottom of the hill...it's soaked. As I am accepting the completion of the horror and looking around at what the storm left behind, watching people pull up to their sites and finding everything in and out of their tent right saturated...I turn around to watch the stormy clouds disappear, and there before my eyes is a double rainbow! I couldn't believe the vibrant colours...and the layers upon layers of them. It was fantastical...fantasial! It was awesome. I couldn't help myself but shout out..."look everyone...a double rainbow...isn't it beautiful?" Those surrounding us that heard me kind of gave me a dead pan stare...looked up into the sky then quickly back to what they were doing. What?? How can you not be moved by this? I set up my chair and sat down to enjoy it...take it all in. I knew that this majestic presence in the sky was surely a sign that the rest of our trip would be calm and beautiful. It calmed me and gave me peace...happiness in my heart. 

Maggie also enjoyed the peace of the rainbow.

I feel like that experience was another lesson I needed to learn. Life isn't always pretty...I know that. Bad things can happen at any moment to any one. If we let it...it can just bring us down. We have to keep the faith that things ALWAYS can get better. Remain positive in thought, as that will only manifest good in your life. There is always a double rainbow at the end of every hardship...you just need to see it...acknowledge it and keep on keeping on. Life IS grand if you let it be. It's always a work in progress to keep up the positive vibes...it always will be...but work that is definitely worth it! Smiling a lot everyday sure can help. Hugs too! And just simply loving the double rainbow that is life...cause Life is Beautiful. hee hee hee...I LOVE rainbows!

This was the best pic I got of the double rainbow...it went across the whole sky!

p.s. I had not even heard of "Double Rainbow Guy" before I told my friends about that whole experience. They were laughing at me because they said I was just like him. And the YOU TUBE has millions of hits...so the campers may have thought I was making fun of that video...who knows. I watched the video...pretty funny. Some say he was probably on drugs and that is why he was relishing the view. I say he was just high on life and enjoying the moment that was so spectacular. Double Rainbow Guy...you rock!