Sunday Afternoon Delights?

My apologies to all. We've having spotty to NON-existent internet due to a series of thunderstorms that have hit us the past few days. I had no internet access until this evening.

Delight isn’t the first word that comes to mind, but it certainly was…exciting. My heartbeat was definitely elevated. Tornadoes have a way of doing that to a person, as do severe thunderstorms and an ear tuned to our battery operated radio. We were without electricity too.


I will admit I had another form of delight in mind. While I was napping my muse provided me with the solution to a problem I had been having in a scene. You know, one of those you can see clearly but can’t get it right with words. So I was eager to get to work, once I had my freshly brewed coffee. Regardless of the time of day, that first sip of coffee is always wonderful and I tend to savor it. I’m looking outside but not really focusing on what I saw since my mind was already playing leapfrog with ideas. It was about that time the computer weatherbug started chirping which told me something was up.


There were three warnings in a space of three minutes. On went the radio and we hear about golf ball sized hail, tornadoes sited and moving our way, flash flood warning due to the heavy output of the storms. Yikes. So began the mad scramble to batten down the hatches, put my car in the garage and fasten the storm latches, and bring in some of the animals.


My husband remarked, as my son and I came back into the house, “I have feeling this one going to knock out power.” We always have about 70 gallons of water in storage, but we like to put up ten additional gallons of fresh drinking water. He no more than got that done and out went the electricity. We’re always prepared with lighting as we have probably eight lanterns filled and ready at any given time along with dozens of fat plumber candles. We also have a propane cook stove. It was only a little before 4 so there was no need to light anything and the electricity was only out for forty-five minutes. Phone and internet, however, still isn't up.


It was eerie, but beautiful, sitting outside and seeing the trees reacting to rotation winds high above us and hearing the distinctive sound of tornado winds off to the northwest and sure enough one was sighted 4 miles away but coming in our direction. It chose pop over or go around our little valley. We weren’t being brainless by sitting outside as the basement door is only a few feet away. But you could hear it above in the clouds a few minutes later. It was at that point when I gave a to the basement warning.


The topography of where we live isn’t flat. We have tall hills filled with forests all around us. Last year, two tornadoes happened to find the one opening to our valley and roared through, but it’s rare, thankfully.

The aftermath was gorgeous though. About 5 the sun came out in the west behind us and bathed the trees and fields in golden light. The rim of the valley to the east and to the south lightning still flashed against dark blue gray skies. But what a sight to see how very green and gold the trees were in the east against stormy skies and the sun shining behind us. The rain was still falling  softly overhead; the rich smell of rain-drenched earth was a feast for the senses (in the picture above the haze is actually rainfall). The birds came out of hiding, singing and chattering away as they took baths in the mud puddles. They were oblivious to the four cats and two humans sitting ten feet away and watching.

I happened to look up watched a rainbow form. So vivid and stunning. A few minutes later, another rainbow formed. We had fully formed double arches over us and it looked like a faint third was trying to form. I can’t remember the last time that happened. It was beyond words and they stayed in place at least twenty minutes—long enough for me to get my camera and snap pictures. My mind tries to store sights and sounds. You never know when you can use them later in your writing.

I was just fascinated by the variety of light and shadow in this shot of the double rainbows.

I didn’t get much writing done, but I do believe the afternoon was filled with delights after all.

Some upcoming guests: Wednesday is the fabulous Joanne Kennedy. I'll also be interviewing Pamela Palmer this month and Janet Evanovich. Other guests, Loucinda McGary, and Mary Wine to name a few on the list.