Admiration for nature and her endless wonders can be easily enfeebled by something as mundane as the weather when her elements conspire to create a cool, dismally dark and endlessly rainy day. The kind of weather that makes one shrug and comment to oneself; tomorrow's another day. Invariably 'tomorrow' will bring sunshine and warming temperatures. As occurred yesterday. The transition between the two can be abrupt and unexpected. But nature rules and what she designates as the day's atmosphere cannot be debated.

Actually, when waking to a dark overcast and wet morning, it has a feeling of comfort to it. We are, after all, warm and comfortable in our homes, while wind and rain stalk the landscape. Most often the skies clear after a few hours and though clouds may linger they also may have exhausted their burden of moisture, so the opportunity to get out and into nature is still there. Then there are other days like today when the rain refuses to lift and just goes on. 

Helps to be philosophical about it. The rain is as welcome to the vegetation surrounding us, the forest, farmers' fields, our gardens, as is the sun. When one or the other is missing no vegetation can thrive. And the extension to that is that neither can nature's animals, dependent on what the fertile ground brings to bear, feeding the world. If crops fail, so do we. 

So, while taking Jackie and Jillie out to the backyard now and again in the rain so they can evacuate elsewhere than in the house, there's the opportunity to view the denizens of the garden through the lens of a rainy day. Where everything has been inundated for hours and fat,  juicy drops of rain run down tree trunks, fix themselves on foliage, and decorate the tender petals of summer blossoms.

In the muted light of a rainy day everything takes on a different appearance. Colours oddly enough seem to change their hues and sometimes appear more vibrant. Walking among the blossoming plants becomes an exercise in discovery. Some flowers have a tendency to close in the absence of light and sun, while others are carefree and welcome any weather conditions, the rain appearing to perk them up, if anything.

Searing sun on really hot days has an opposite effect, wilting foliage, draining them of their liquid content and 'burning' them with the heat generated by an unforgiving sun without constraints of shade. For vegetation, the best of all possible weather situations is that of moderation; a little breeze, some showers, and a modicum of brilliant sun.