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Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Thunder and Lightning

This was going to be a picture post, but the lightning began early this afternoon. I'm watching the clouds bump into one another and suddenly the noise doesn't seem surprising.  The electrical storm is vertical today. There's no rain, but trees are flailing about, prickly acacias catching and releasing the neighboring oleander.

The dust from the under-development-patch-of-dirt to the east is moving in twenty foot gusts. I like that.... gusts of dust. This kind of weather leads to flights of fancy... or foolishness... like that, I'm afraid.  There's no going outside. JannyLou's pool guy just screeched out of her driveway, not wanting to be the tallest object in sight, holding the metal handle of a skimmer, standing next to a large body of water. It was a wise decision.

My desert mountain laurel is very happy that I left it staked up for another season.  Its roots still aren't deep enough or spread wide enough to withstand these blasts of air. The lantana is lifting her skirts for me... it's truly a Marilyn-Monroe-on-the-subway-grate moment 
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and I'd insert a photo of my own right there, but, really, it's not safe to go outside right now.  

The deadheaded hibiscus are blown to someone else's yard by now.  I had them piled, neatly, out of the way, on the base of the columns. The wind had other ideas. It did save me the chore of remembering to remove them, I suppose.

It's bright and sunny out the back windows; the Tucson Mountains are lower and further than are the Santa Catalina's out the front.  The clouds have come in from the southeast today, and they seem to be stuck on the Pusch Ridge.  The sun's making a valiant effort to illuminate the front yard, but the blackness is coming, inexorably, step by step, inch by inch..... if I said Niagara Falls would anyone know what I meant?

The wind will clean up the Texas Ranger blossoms that last a day and then fall to the walkways, waiting for the ants to pick them up and tote them home.  It's a pretty purple parade, which I'd hoped to photograph for you, but, alas, there's that pesky lightning.

Perhaps tomorrow afternoon will be more salubrious.  For now, I'm going to indulge in some James Patterson brain candy.  I need a sorbet between my day and Breaking Bad.  

Yes, Breaking Bad.  By Sunday night we'd caught up to the current episodes. Monday night, feeling bereft, we started watching again from the beginning.  It only gets better, more intense, more subtle, more brilliant.  But I really need to go into it in the jolliest frame of mind I can muster.

Hence, brain candy.  I'll read and watch and hope that tomorrow lets me show you what I tried to describe today.

8 comments:

  1. I absolutely LOVE thunderstorms. Not being in them per se, but listening to them and watching them from the comfort of my own home. Each night before I go to sleep, I listen to rain and thunderstorm tracks on Spotify. It's how I relax.

    The picture of the pool guy rushing off made me chuckle. It's better to be safe when it comes to lightening.

    Need to check out your what I'm reading now section. Always looking for good books to read half way through 'cause I never get to finish them. LOL.

    Have a great day! :)


    Megan xxx

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    1. Read the James Patterson ones... they are quick and you might have a chance to finish them.

      I, too, love the lightning and thunder. It makes me happy. I like the electricity in the air and the rain on the windows... even though we only got 5 minutes of droplets yesterday, the light show was amazing.
      a/b

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  2. Today, I'm hoping for more than the 16 drops I got yesterday. ;)

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    1. We got 20 minutes of rain and then nothing. The clouds look ominous today, but I hold no hope. What a boring monsoon this year, eh?
      a/b

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  3. Boring monsoon at my house too. Brain candy. I like that.

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  4. I do love those storms and it's what makes August one of my favorite months to be in Tucson but the person who takes them for granted and runs around out in them is taking their life in their hands. Definitely nothing to take for granted but instead to enjoy from inside. When I've had to drive in one, I try to keep my hands off metal as much as possible. But they are exciting.

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    1. Today's Arizona Star had a photo of people (including what looked like a dad and a young daughter) playing in a wash in the rain. "Cleaning out the gene pool" was all I could think :)
      a/b

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