Continuity

I saw something new in the sky this week as we flew Keren to Beira in the Cessna 182.
The day was a rather miserable one, all cold, cloudy and rainy. But there was sunshine above those clouds, so that’s where we headed as the small plane took off. At one point, where the clouds broke enough to let the sun shine down, we noticed a large 360 degree (round) rainbow in the sky below us. To me, ‘normal’ rainbows are semi-circular archways, the kind you see on the horizon after it rains. They’re half circles, not whole circles.

I did my best to get a shot of the round rainbow with the camera on my cell phone, but as you can see, didn’t come anywhere near to capturing it.

Edge of rainbow in the top left corner

Edge of rainbow in the bottom left corner

That’s all I have as proof. (Serves me right for leaving my trusty Panasonic at home ☹.)

I did find a fairly good shot online though, just so you have an idea of what it looked like:

(photo credit)

Apparently, several conditions must be in place in order to see the full circle of the rainbow in the sky:

1. The sun must be shining.
2. The sun must be behind you.
3. There must be water drops in the air in front of you.
4. You have to look down on the drops. (You pretty much have to be in an airplane for that).

So if conditions are right, you can see the full circle (or, continuity). Simple, yet profound.

The day before Keren left, another young lady arrived to spend a few days with us. She got stuck into several jobs in the short time she was here, one being to help us finish coloring Keren's visual aids for the health curriculum (for primary schools). We made it a ladies' Saturday coffee time activity and got in a nice chat as well. No photos of that event, but here is the finished product.

Otherwise, this week has been busy with playing catch-up on a number of fronts, like sorting through used clothing for distribution, updating and introducing milk program and consultation forms for the health posts, checking in on some orphan homes, visiting with students who've popped by to chat, etc., etc. In all of it, I've been thinking about that rainbow and the element of continuity but in "people" terms, where someone does something which impacts someone else to do something which impacts somebody else. And it's very nice to see...sort of like seeing a full-circle rainbow :)

I'll close with that thought and a link to Dwight's blog since he's done a great job of relating some of the events of this past week.

Take care and ttyl.