After five days of rain, including nearly four days of more-or-less continuous drizzle (which is pretty amazing for Los Angeles -- I have jokingly said in the past that walking through my downtown neighborhood makes me think I'm living in 'Blade Runner', but for a few wet, gray days it actually did look kind of postpunk-dystopian), the weather finally cleared up late yesterday. And then it rained again some more after that, but it was just a light misty rain and it looks like there isn't any more rain planned for a while. When a co-worker informed me that there was a rainbow in the sky, the afternoon was already lapsing into evening. Even so, when I ran outside with my camera, thanks to the rain-washed air and the clear sky the lowering sun was illuminating the world with a beautiful golden glow. Combined with the clean scent of the wet grass and the cool, ionized air, the light imbued the setting with a strangely nostalgic, otherworldly quality -- melancholy yet somehow exciting and expectant at the same time. It made me think of the wistful, fairyland-like landscapes of Watteau's paintings, lit by the golden sun of Claude Lorrain (these photos, however, remind me of old Dutch landscapes -- especially the second one). I couldn't get the whole rainbow in the frame, so I took partial shots and later did the mosaic thing again. I found that if I didn't try so hard to match everything up and just let the incidental details end up wherever they might, the resulting composite image actually became more interesting.
Worm Rescue Update: After so much wet weather, it stands to reason that there would be lotsa worms out and about where they shouldn't be. And sure enough, yesterday I repatriated 4 worms -- 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. I think one of the morning worms was an adolescent, because it was a good deal smaller than the others but bigger than the baby one from a couple months ago.
One thing -- at one point I was in a bit of a hurry to get back inside and I didn't stop to save this one worm I passed in the parking lot.
I feel a little bad about it, maybe a tad disappointed with myself, but I'm not exactly wracked with guilt and remorse, either. To exercise magnanimity and compassion, and also to be randomly callous or destructive, just because one has the power to do such things and not be affected -- it's the prerogative of a superior being who acts on his own will and recognizes no other rules. Hmm, I sound kind of Nietzschean...
[Note to self: start using 'Nietzsche's Worm' as a satirical label for someone who is prone to philosophizing grandly about matters of trivial consequence]
I suppose if there were a nuclear holocaust or some such cataclysm, and some superhuman being were to look down and decide that some of us would be saved but not others, he might feel similarly as I did about not being able to -- or not wanting to bother to -- save everyone.
Number of worms rescued so far: 20
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