Microcosms

It was the Saturday of the Penn State blue-white game, and so the local Boy Scouts were selling hoagies in the Village (as some of us like to call it here). They start at 7 and sell until they sell out. So it's best to get rolling, but only if you want hoagies.

My husband and I hopped in the car around 8 and went for our hoagies. Two Italians, with pickles and everything, $7 each. I jumped out and nabbed our hoagies and paid and put them in a cooler in the back seat. Then we turned homeward, and my husband dropped me off by the parking lot to the Barrens.

I had seen the radar weather map, and rain was definitely coming, but it looked like it might arrive in fits and drabs. I am not made of sugar, so I won't melt when I get a thorough soaking, though I do need to be mindful of the camera.

So I got out of the car with my umbrella, and it was raining already, but not hard. Just a gentle spring rain. I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, and as the rain started, the temps began to drop a bit. Did I want his long-sleeved shirt, my husband asked, as I jumped out the door. No, I'm fine; I want to feel the rain on my skin.

I had my camera in its bag, and I had my tunes box with me, but mostly I just listened to the rain as it beat a rhythm on my favorite pond. I took pictures at the first pond, then headed up to the third pond, where the porcupine lives.

I did not see the porcupine on this day, but I did run into a lady and her dog. They had entered the Barrens before me, and I had noted that she didn't have an umbrella, even. As I arrived at the third pond, our paths crossed, and I smiled at her and told her, "The rain SMELLS WONDERFUL!!!" She (dripping with rain but clearly not minding a bit) quickly smiled right back, and her whole face lit up: "It's really BEAUTIFUL, isn't it?" And it was. Oh yes, it was.

Then the rain increased, and it started making bubbles on the surface. I realized I could see a reflection of the entire world inside the bubble. Look at all those trees! I wanted to get a closer view. But I had less than a second to try to capture each bubble before it popped. So it went like that. BUBBLE! SNAP! BUBBLE! SNAP!

There wasn't even time to zoom in. There wasn't time for anything. There was just a world of rain beating on the pond and bubble-snap! When I got my pictures home, I noticed there was a water skipper in this shot, and it seemed like it was turned around looking at the tiny bubble world.

I felt suddenly protective of the tiny worlds. So ephemeral. So fragile. It seems like I am always standing on the edge of time, watching worlds form and reform. And so it goes. I have been to the woods and back, in a gentle spring rain. My gift is a snapshot of worlds ephemeral, in springtime, being born and reborn every half-second, on a vernal pond.

Life lessons:
1. It is beautiful but it won't last.
2. Make every second count.

For some reason, this is the song that goes with this story: the Bee Gees, with Edge of the Universe.