On the way home from school last night, as I emerged from a tropical shower (I was in the car, thankfully!) I looked up to see a double-rainbow stretched from one side of the Mississippi in St. Paul to the other side in Minneapolis. It was a splendid, even breathtaking, effect. I’m not sure whether I’ve ever seen a double rainbow before, at least not one that close. I thought it might even stop traffic. It didn’t. But it was still a moment of transcendant beauty and a uplifting end to what had others been a day with a few disturbing events.

We have orioles! Neighbors told us when we first moved in that Baltimore orioles used to come to our yard because some prior owners fed them. We put a feeder out about a month ago, but no luck – until yesterday. I was out talking with my neighbor Phyllis and on the way balk into the house I heard a distinct call I had never heard in our yard before. I waited by the back porch door and, sure enough, a little oriole came down and had his fill of grape jelly before flying off to a neighbor’s tree. Judging from the color, it was an adult male. I hope it will be the first of many sightings. They are stunning birds and their song is so lovely to hear.