Monday Didn't Get me Down!

Ever have a good day when everything seemed to just work? Those are the days you need to stand on the roof and yell, "What a great day this is! It's wonderful to be alive!" We all spend a lot of time complaining about those impossible, difficult, Alexander style days, so it's important to balance it with some praise for our wonderful days.

I was worried. It was Monday, after all. I planned to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew my driver's license. I was braced to have one of those days. And then Sierra wanted to come along. Welllll....OK. But I told her to bring a book. My past experience has been that I give myself plenty of time because you never know how much time you'll spend at the DMV.

Ten minutes! That's it! I was in and out in ten minutes! I was amazed. Sierra didn't even have enough time to read more than a few pages. There was no line. It's an interesting experience to walk quickly through the people corral (Maze? I'm not sure what to call it). In less than a minute I had my customer number and my picture was taken. I was even having a good hair day thanks to an early morning shower and a glob of hair gel. Thank you Frizz-Ease. Everyone I talked to smiled, and I was called up to the counter within five minutes of sitting down. Life is good.

And it gets better. On the way to Chase's class, I spotted a rainbow! Not just any rainbow. At first, this rainbow looked like a bright spot in the sky. I thought I was looking at the sun, but this spot was to the left of the sun. Chase realized it was a rainbow. He also noticed that there was another spot on the right of the sun. These bright rainbow patches stayed in the sky almost until sunset. Here is a picture:

Update: Thanks to Kate for identifying this celestial phenomenon. It's called a sundog! I found information on sundogs or parhelia on this Wikipedia page. There is lots of info on them. I'm glad I know what to call it now!

Then this evening we had a visit from our favorite skunk, Flare. Yes, we named it. It's easy to recognize because it doesn't have much white on it. The tail only has white on the very tip, hence the name Flare. Flare is a pretty docile skunk. As long as I'm quiet and don't make any sudden moves I've been able to stand reasonably close to the animal. I stood in the doorway while Flare rooted around at the edge of the light from our front door. These were some of the best pictures I've gotten. Zoom and flash were on. Flare is used to lights flashing on its nightly visits to our yard. And the pictures came out well for being shots in the dark.

And there you have it. I know it may not be everyone's idea of a perfect day (I'm a crazy naturalist after all), but it really was wonderful. I feel very happy about it. I am very thankful for Monday. I wish all of you a very good day and encourage you to tell me about what made it so great!