Word of the Day - 3/10

Howdy folks,

Many apologies for missing the last couple of days--I haven't been feeling particularly well, such that the best I might have come up with would have been something like "theraflu". But I'm back today (though not without a bit of help). Today's picture is courtesy of B--computer whiz and um, Yankee fan extraordinaire. B also suggested the following quote, which provides a good deal of the inspiration for the rest of the entry. So, without further delay, I present first, B's quote, second, B's picture, and third, my entry--enjoy, and have a great day!

If you mean that the proximity of one color should give beauty to another that terminates near it, observe the rays of the sun in the composition of the rainbow, the colors of which are generated by the falling rain, when each drop in its descent takes every color of the bow. --Leonardo Da Vinci, Treatise on Painting, 1490s

Now, I imagine that Da Vinci is making a technical point here--attempting to insruct by way of a natural demonstration. But, since I'm not a painter, I'm not so interested in that sort of thing--and I'll take something different a bit different from the quote. As such, the word of the day is:

Subsumption: Subsumption refers to what I guess you could call a "gathering up" of smaller things by a larger thing (or of more specific things by a more comprehensive thing). Anyway--here's what I'm thinking with regard to the Da Vinci quote--I like the thought that somehow the colors of the sunlight are subsumed by each raindrop as it descends inevitably toward the ground--it's almost like one final act of heroism--where each drop gathers all of the light that it can carry, magnifies it, and suddenly sets it free again...

p.s I understand that this isn't at all what Da Vinci had in mind (when he says "each drop takes every color..." I imagine that he means "each drop assumes every color...", which is a vastly different thing--because in that case the light is acting on the rain, rather than what I've said (where the rain acts on the light)--but it's my entry darnit, and I can misinterpret things however I see fit :)

p.s.s--another instance of subsumption: The raindrops, exhausted from their long journey and hard effort, are willingly subsumed by the collective of a puddle.

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