I finished today’s 20 mile bike ride just ahead of the first of several thunderheads to roll across the Pioneer Valley. I was locking the bike onto the rack of my car when the clouds, which had been growing ever darker and more ominous, finally shot their first bolt of lightening to earth. The sky flashed that brilliant blue, the pungent smell of ozone that always accompanies such events filled my nose and BOOM!
I love to watch thunderstorms. I love the energy that seems to charge the air when they pass over. I love to see nature, in all it’s splendor, remind all living things unequivocally that we are an insignificant part of a much greater universe. It’s humbling and empowering at the same time.
How does thunder and lightning affect you?
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Thundering and lightninging
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I, too, love thunderstorms, and have since I was a child (I think that may have been my deliberately thumbing my nose at my biological mother, who is terrified by them).
I don't mind them so much until they zorch out things that are expensive to fix. We had a strike hit the pole outside our house last summer, and it effectively fried the hot water heater, the garage door opener, the VCR and (GASP!) the TiVo. We go around unplugging everything now.
Hey Wayfarer, friend of Fran's here.
I must admit that I lurk your site because you are totally honest and deserve respect. So, I admit, I read and enjoy and respect what you have to say. Thanks.
We met helping Fran move from the barn in Whately. You are a very good husband/father/friend/linguist/host. Wayfarer house seems to be "home" for the collected and welcomed family..good on yah.
Also, we ( sposnes and I) have friends with a child in school where you teach. Great job you are doing!
I grew up in Greenfield and Chicopee. A family night out involved sleeping bags and whatever the weather brings. Lay out and watch the stars. My Mom knows them all still. I love lightning and thunder. They are better than relegion. Umm, ...they are religion.
I now live in Sunderland. I was sitting in my breezeway ( read l"ightning highway") when a storm passed through. Six feet in fron of my aluminum chair a BOLT went through. I posted a hasty retreat..yowzaa! an loved it all. ..My kind of "then God spoke to me"...yeh , like don't sit in metal chairs on the breezeway...Must admit though, I don't go out in big storms with an umbrella.. But do still go out in rapture of BIG weather. It is all grand.
OK, tel me, is this too long of a reply? I'm new to this.
L.
Chili: I hear you about when the lightning blows up the electronics. I had that happen a number of years ago (not long after I moved to LV), and the surge destroyed all manner of appliances: TV, computer, stereo, even the toaster! It also came this close to burning the house down. The bolt grounded out through an outlet just behind the gas stove which, had it ignited, would easily have melted the gas line just 6" below it.
I still don't unplug everything when I sense a storm coming. I do the laptops (must...protect...laptops!), but the rest of our electronics are so old that, if they died, it would prompt us to buy new and that wouldn't be a bad thing.
L: Thank you so much for replying! Your comments are very much appreciated. I remember the day we were out there at the barn. Fran was so excited and nervous and lots of other things all at the same time, and I was honored to be able to help her, even just a little, to make things a little less chaotic. All of us at Wayfarer House miss her terribly.
Your comment about likening t-storms to religion is right on. I do not practice organized religion, as such. I do not attend church. I was raised protestant, but never really found much peace in it on a tangible level. It was a nice intellectually, but not something I could really feel. I can feel thunder. I can feel lightning. It gives my practice a meaning, a foundation, that I simply could not get inside a church.
Please know, L, that there is no such thing as a reply that is too long. I love it when people speak their mind here, and that should take as long as it wants to. Feel free to post as much, and as often, as you like.
The same goes for the rest of you!
Call me a wussy if you will but I got trapped in my house with downed power lines and if I'd been in the car (which I was just seconds before the part of the storm that downed the lines) I would more than likely have died. Pretty? Yes. But it makes me nauseous.
Post a Comment