Beautiful rainbows

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Twice, I've had unusual encounters with rainbows. And both have stayed with me for more than 40 years.

When I was a young man, I was walking a ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and I saw a rainbow ending against the side of a mountain! I walked across the ridge and moved under the rainbow, but I saw only blue sky when I got there. There was no pot of gold, just a pleasant tree-covered area with little undergrowth. I sat and enjoyed the moment; then, I got up and continued walking, and the rainbow reappeared.

Years later, I was living in South Carolina and visiting Clemson University. There was a concrete-sided pond in front of the library, and sprinkler jets were firing mists all around the lake. THERE WAS A TINY RAINBOW ABOVE EACH JET OF WATER! I had already checked out something from the library, and I was sitting on the side of the hill enjoying the day. Within minutes, that hill was covered with people looking at the tiny rainbows.

Boy, I wish I had had a camera with me on either day.

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com  TWITTER: EDITORatWORK

More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!

EDITOR@WORK blog entries

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

• Rookie mistakes for magazine writers

Entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• YIP! YIP! The stereo-sound huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

Blog entries from The Auto Racing Journal

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing