Peter: It is a whole other world taking pics like that during the day. My friend is trying to figure that out although he gets some great cloud formations before and after the storms. Nice work. I hope to see more pics by you. Jojo: I have heard the monsoons can be quite dramatic! I have even seen the storm drains dug all around the outskirts of peoples home but never saw them fill up. I can only imagine that. I have seen lightning from a distance and been very frustrated chasing them because the roads there a long and straight with no way to turn down another for miles to catch up to it..lol Been there done that. Have you ever seen lightning drop from the clouds over the prairies or horizon? It must be majestic! It is nice to meet Peter. It is always nice to see new faces. I would never come there without visiting some very nice people here if the offer is there. Going there to see people I know would be so nice. We would have to visit the Indian Reservations though, Saguaro Cactus Preserve, and look for turquoise jewelry..lol I have danced with the Navaho tribes once before! I hope many others come here with nice pictures. I would of loved to have sene the hail storm ones that some here have experienced! Mike

Ilene, Is this not the oddest of weather years? For all our drought issues here, we haven't been that hot yet either. (That's a relative statement--in that, we are very hot, but not as hot as MOST drought periods.) We have had some very, very hot days with high heat indexes up to 110-112, but we've also had plenty of days with the highs in the low to mid-90s (although the heat indexes on those days have still gone up to 100-105) and nights in the low to mid-70s, and even a few nights in the upper 60s too. If normal rainfall were occurring, overall I'd consider it a "mild" year so far. For us, the worst heat is the last week of July and first two weeks of August. We are cooler this week....expecting highs around 92-96 and lows around 70-75. Still, on the noon news, they said we could expect the heat index to be around 105 most afternoons, but I just get around that by staying inside as much as possible in the afternoon hours. Debra, We all (well, maybe not Scott over there in the rain belt) need more rain, it seems, no matter how much is falling. How in the heck did the early Oklahoma pioneers who mostly had to raise their own food manage to do it? If we had to raise all our own food now, could we? The weather certainly wouldn't make it easy. Dawn

A circular polorizing filter works very well with rainbows. You can have a rainbow that is barely visible with the naked eye and the filter will bring out tremendous detail. If you have a digital camera play with the contrast, this will also give you a brighter rainbow. I have the Minolta A-2 which is great for this. When you make adjustments you can see what you will get before you shoot. It has a 28mm to 200mm optical zoom and you can get out to 400mm with the digital zoom. You can also get an attachment that screws on the filter threads that can triple the focan lenth and get out to 1200mm. This camera is also great for copy work and close ups. This has a tremenmdouus range in a light weight package and is also very good in low light. Due to shutter lag and focus lag it is a little slow for birds in motion but acceptable. For birds in motion I prefer to use the Minolta 7d with a long telephoto lens. This camera with all the lenses in very heavy and when you play with the digital effects you don't see what you get till you veiw your picture. When you shoot you take into account what your going for and the conditions and take what you think you'll need. Can't carry everything. I wouldn't part with either camera they both have their nich.

But I didn't know this novel couldn't be spoiled, so I just now read the thread. I listened to the unabridged version, so my response may be a tad bit unlike others. I didn't see the spelling of many names and so missed a number of clues. On the other hand, Zachry's tale, when read by a professional performer, was absolutely lovely. The cadences of the language was delightful. I had no struggle to get into his story. I loved and I hated this book. I was charmed by the first half of Adam's tale and was amused by our composer's struggle. I hated, hated, hated the Luisa Rey story. But that should surprise no one. I am a nuclear engineer who has spent 25 years doing safety analysis, risk assessments, and environmental assessments. I get very tired of those who do not understand that in a modern economy ignoring safety is short-term, very short-term, thinking and just stupid. (Just ask Merck - Looks like their liability on Vioxx is going to be in the tens of billions ultimately.) Rant over. I began to enjoy the story for a simple tale of murder and may-hem. I also began at that point to realize that Mitchell was using differing styles to tell his stories and to become intrigued in trying to figure out exactly what that meant. During the Ghastly Ordeal, I began to realize that struggles to get home, even when we have no home, was a running theme throughout the book. Safe haven perhaps being a better term. Cavendish certainly had a struggle to get safely out of London to his safe haven in the north. Then he had the struggle to return home. Luisa's young neighbor risked the jump across balconies to get to the safe haven of her apartment. Luisa herself was frequently in need of a safe haven. The youngster ultimately found his new safe home. Luisa found her place in life. Adam was, of course, going home. His Maoriori friend no longer had a home. Frobusher had been kicked out of his home and was looking for another. Was his suicide in part because he no longer had any place to go? Sonmi's home was taken away from her and her interim home wasn't exactly a home. (Was that portion of her story an homage to the students struggling to improve their prospects who practically live at the university or library, played off against those who are just there because Dad said they have to go? Always was that way, always will be?) Later we see her as she escapes to a safe haven, and then as she prepares for her version of Paradise, which of course, wasn't. Zachry is already in what most of us consider Paradise. Is home to him the place where the family plaques reside? Is his story paradise lost and then perhaps regained? He lives long enough to know his grandchildren which is an improvement over his previous home. We have a bridge and a crossing of water in all the tales, don't we? Wonder what exactly that means? I'm big with the individualist thing, but I'm also aware that individuals survive longer in groups...