The Storm

Last evening some ferocious thunderstorms blew through the area.

I stood on the covered deck and watched the trees waving in the wind--it was a magnificent sight--the dark gray clouds and the trees punctuated by the flashes of lightening followed by the peals of thunder. This was an especially mean storm as the branches of the trees swayed above us--

The lightening flashed followed almost immediately by the thunder which really is a sonic boom crashing through the evening air.

Makayla, although a bit unnerved by the ferocity of the storm, stayed by my side as I sat on the porch watching the wind and rain.  I was reminded of watching storms roll down the valley from the front porch of the house I grew up in.  The smell of the air, cleansed and freshened by the rain is something which lingers in my memory even today.

The way the trees bend--even though we think of them as solid, is amazing in the face of the storm.

My pool was filled with the leaves torn from those trees--but all of the ones near our house weathered the worst the storm could dish out.

The lawns drank in the water from the sky--it has been hot and dry for a couple weeks.

Evening thunderstorms--I really enjoy them--and the temperature dropped 13 degrees--from 90 to 77.

And just a quickly as it blew in--it was gone and nothing but a memory, and the resulting clean up.