The color of rain

I woke up at 4 a.m. And listened.

What was that sound?

I wasn’t sure. I hoped. I got up. And there it was.

Rain.

Finally.

We’ve had less than 4 inches of rain in the last four months; normally we’d have gotten 16 inches.

The last real rain, of more than an inch, was September 19.

Over and over I’d seen rain forecasted, and then it would evaporate in the boiling sun. I lived in fear of fire.

Yesterday, the sky looked like it meant business.  The temperature dropped and the air was moist. I took a long walk and I could feel the water waiting to fall. The breeze felt like cold cream on my face.

Still it held off.

Now, at 4 a.m., my eyes could finally relax, staring at the black reflection on the patio. I listened to that beautiful music, those waterfall rhythms, and went back to bed.

I couldn’t sleep, but it didn’t matter. I just listened.

When it was finally light enough, I went outside just to look. The birds were chirping with delight.

I took photos of wet leaves to capture their palette.

           

Here’s a series of palettes I’ve made from nature photos, including those two, which are on the top row.

The purple splotch is a beauty berry plant. Apart from that, the rain-soaked leaves have the most vivid palette.

And all that color came from this gray sky.

As we drove to Tom’s appointments today, the views were filled with brilliant reds, oranges and yellows. The colors popped under their shiny clear raincoats.

I’ve missed this so much.

Today’s penny is a 2007, the year of North Georgia’s previous drought.