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04/16/2003 Archived Entry: "A quiet Wednesday....No war"

Wednesday is for refueling, for wandering around the topics and activities that catch my interest whether they are productive or important...or not. Wednesday is my weekend. No war today.

Last night was a disappointment. As Brad and I were sitting on the couch watching a DVD, my eyes kept returning to the parlor window where flashes of lightning were framed as a storm approached, closer and closer. When I first noticed the sky flash, the storm was far to the North, the light was grainy and diffuse with no sharp bolts. But as it moved closer, the light brightened and the wind picked up, blowing harder and colder through the window we'd cracked open. After about twenty minutes, our weather radio blared a warning; a storm alert had been declared for our county.

Thunderstorms excite me and we've had some dandies. I remember one in particular that passed right over our house about five years ago. Brad was out of town and I was reading myself to sleep in bed, with my back propped up against the wall, when the cracks of lightning began. (I'd already turned off all the computers, ham radio equipment and other "combustibles" as we always do when a storm is expected.) I put my book to one side and listened. Ideally, I like to watch the progress of storms from the deck where I am sheltered from the worst of the wind but able to see a broad slice of the horizon. That night, the wind and rain were so severe that the racket panicked one of our dogs who seemed inconsolable, whining even as he settled down beside me on the bed. There were flickers in the electricity and I phoned my neighbor to make sure she had candles and...just to check in. And, then, I settled down to wait. This was the only storm that has frightened me. The lightning hit so close to our house that the impact of one bolt caused the bedroom walls to shake with a sudden, sharp snap that threw my body forward. My back was literally pushed away from the wall, as tho' I'd been shoved. The next day, my neighbor reported that bolts landed near our barn and in her own back yard, about 100 feet away from her kitchen window. That night I found the upper limit to my enjoyment of storms.

Last night, as Brad shut down the house as a precaution, I wrapped myself in a warm blanket and sat at one corner of the deck to watch the first storm of the season. (To my embarrassment, I slept through an earlier one.) The lightshow didn't oblige. Altho the lightning became clear spikes and the wind felt wonderful as it tried to get under my blanket, the body of the storm crawled off to the east and the wind sissipated. A disappointment.

And now a cold front is here. Today will be less pleasant than yesterday, which was T-shirt weather. It will still be warm enough, however, for my Wednesday wandering to take me around the farm, which still needs picking up from the winter...stray branches, the cans and bottles the dogs have taken from the recycle box on their way out the door, dead things to be thrown into a tree to keep the dogs from lunching... It won't be long before the farm is alive again. It happens in a burst and I always find that reassuring. It is as tho life cannot be contained.

Best to all,
mac