The Wing and a Prayer to San Diego - Feb 14 2010

 Flying from Cincinatti, KY to San Diego: normally looking down on the world below, the earth is a mixture of browns and greens, but today it was all white with veins of earth that looked like the etchings of snowflakes. Huges snowflakes layed upon the ground like puzzle pieces. The farther west we flew, the less snow there was. You could make out shapes in the "snowflakes" like you would in the clouds. (Dragons do exist in case you were wondering.) When the clouds blocked the view to the earth, they looked like marshmallow cream puff.
I've no idea what caused it, but I even saw a rainbow ring in the clouds. It was faint -- a yellow bullseye in the center, a yellow ring merging into a sliver of orange, merging into a pale pinkish-red. It was lovely.
I love rainbows. I've told people before about my never tiring of seeing rainbows in Ireland. There are so many, the novelty wears off, but not for me. I was like a kid in a candy store, "A rainbow!" Five minutes later, "Another rainbow!" Later that afternoon, "Look, a rainbow. Wow." Of course, by this time, I was talking to myself since the awe of the recurrent phenomenon had worn off for everybody else.
I thought of rainbows this morning on our drive to the Greensboro airport. The roads were clear of the snow that we had slushed through the previous morning. The sky was partly clear; I could make out some stars. Praying to God we could make it out of Greensboro to San Diego today (our flight was cancelled yesterday due to weather), I looked at the stars and said to God, "They're not a rainbow, but they'll do." Yes, indeed, there is always hope.
     
Back to the actual flight, there were times the plane was flying against such a wind, it seemed we were holding still in the sky, barely moving past the lines of the ground below.
The midwest, normally shaded with some greens, was only a palate of browns today. I could tell it was the midwest because of all the crop-circles, I mean crops, shaped upon the ground. The browns were paler where snow dusted the ground like confectionary sugar on french toast....Mmm... french toast with confectionary sugar sounds really good. Have to get me some of that....Anyways. 
    
Over another state, I'm not sure which one, the palette of browns in their various squares and circles and rectangles began to look like make-up compacts -- your foundations, your powders and your eyeshadows. It was like the department store beauty counter for giantesses that live up in the sky -- Maicints (pronounced may-cents; Macys for giants of course).
     
I saw another rainbow target -- fainter and bigger than the one before. I know how rainbows appear with water and sun, but I'd never seen a target-shaped one before today. 
     
Speaking of things never before seen, I even saw a brontosaurus walking amongst the snow of clouds. Clouds are amazing from above. It looks as if you could walk on top a pile of them, yet, if you actually stepped out, you would plummet through the wisps of air and whatever else clouds are made of -- water, electric charge, snowman poop, angels' snot, whatever. Skipping out onto the clouds is at once a terrorfying and thrilling thought. Oh to be Lois Lane and hitch a ride with Superman. ///Another digression: I love how even to his dying day, Christopher Reeves remained Superman. Forever Superman.///
       
I saw yet another target rainbow; this one was fainter still than the first and smaller than both the previous ones. This one was mostly yellow barely glinting any orange.
      
Oh wow, those snow-capped mountains were.....wow, incredible, amazing. Well done, God. I was thankful for the eyes to see them. They may have been the Rockies, but I really couldn't tell.
      

After we passed the midwest and sailed on to over the southwest, there were tiles of various greens and browns and several tiles of purple placed about sporadically. Corners of the "paint" were worn off some tiles. Immediately following the small floor of tile was the desert, one vast sandy-brown landscape shaded with hills. And that was twenty minutes from our landing in San Diego.
/// The End ///