Rain or shine

Apparently over the last couple of days there has been a huge amount of rain falling on certain parts of England - no doubt designed to coincide with the start of Wimbledon. (Incidentally, I am really disappointed, though not surprised, that Andy Murray has pulled out of the tournament this year.)
Fortunately, in contrast, although our weather here has hardly been "summery" we have managed to escape any really severe rainstorms.
I was travelling to a meeting last week through the Upper Clyde Valley. As we approached the fairly prominent landmark known as Tinto (an extinct volcano) my passenger remarked that he had never seen Tinto except when it was surrounded in cloud and rain. (That night was no exception.) However, I had to tell him that I had often passed it in bright sunshine. The photograph above is proof of the fact.
After my last post, I've been reflecting on what it is that makes a place seem 'beautiful.' Certainly sunshine can help, but it isn't always necessary.
Memories can be just as important - though perhaps that just makes a place seem special, rather than beautiful.
As I've said before in this blog, for me some of the most beautiful places are where nature and human creativity combine in harmony. There's very little of that human activity evident in the picture above but I hope that doesn't contradict my 'thesis' (though, come to think of it, the presence of the neatly mown lines made by the tractor do add something to the photograph and do draw attention to the beauty of Tinto itself.)
All too often in the Western world (at least since the Industrial Revolution) we have focused on dominating the environment, shaping the landscape to suit our own ends, and sometimes in the process destroying its beauty and even at times its life. We need to learn from the East how to live in greater harmony with the world in which we are placed and in some ways let it shape us.
Having said that... I'm glad Tinto is extinct!