Photo by Bill Stokes
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, does not spend as much time as the keeper does staring out the window at the passing scene, dominated as it is by a parking lot, a sprawling school complex and a distant view of the state Capitol dome.
It is an ever-changing view, minute by minute, and gives the keeper and Phyllis a sense of participation in the flow of things from their 5th floor Vista West digs.
The view, though it can be colorful in some of its white and green annual phases, does not often make an overt effort at something of sheer beauty: but it did Thursday afternoon when a modest thunderstorm was capped with a magnificent rainbow.
The rainbow stretched from somewhere over by Lake Mendota to the environs of Verona, its apex centering on downtown Madison, and its seven colors brilliant in their prism container.
In its spectacular beauty the rainbow conveyed the message that Nature dominates and has the capacity to bring breathless beauty to the view of a parking lot and a panorama of man’s structural fumbling.
The keeper and Phyllis watched the rainbow until it faded into the afternoon mist: it was an incredible show!
Photo by Bill Stokes