“Talking to myself and feeling old Sometimes I'd like to quit, nothing ever seems to fit Hanging around, nothing to do but frown Rainy days and Mondays always get me down”

If you know those lyrics, you’re doing the same as me… dating yourself. Rainy Days and Mondays was the Carpenters fourth number 1 song for the Adult Contemporary Singles Chart and went as far as #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1971. I was a sophomore in high school at the time and though this was far from a favorite song for me, I loved Karen Carpenter… from afar (read last post).

Life’s experience has led me to deeper more tangible loves since then. One of them is realizing that rainy days are the absolute most wonderful days to shoot waterfalls that have a canopy to keep the sky out of the frame. It just so happens I managed this image on both a rainy day and a Monday. Apologies to the Carpenters (Karen has long since passed), but bonus for this shot!

This is aptly named Triple Falls at DuPont State Park near Brevard here in North Carolina. Autumn color this year in the high regions of the Blue Ridge was not its best throughout the season. I cruised the high ridge just to observe and found the sleepy forest there nodding its head to the winter. The lower elevations, though, were quite surprising, as evidenced here. I had rain gear as I hiked the trail up. I was stoked by the by both the vividness of the forest and the bit of mist kicked up by both the falls from the Little River and the rain. I wasn't disappointed once I reached the top.

That said, I was partway into my shoot here when another fella dragged himself up the trail. The first thing he did was grumble about the conditions that I thought were terrific. His argument was that the mist would take away from the sharpness of his pictures. That's not obvious here to me. I didn't argue with him. He just harrumphed at my obvious joy and hiked on. I wished him happy shooting, which elicited another harrumph! I couldn't help thinking he must have been listening to the Carpenters on the way to DuPont. I hid my grin from him to keep from ruffling him any further as I joyfully applied my reverie to this scene... I hope it's obvious.