Jan 13 2010

Storm

Published by at 10:19 am under Country Life,Memories,Weather

There was a thunderstorm last night.

I hate thunderstorms.

Fortunately, we don’t get them very often, and when we do, they don’t have the verve and ferocity of East Coast storms. I still remember the storms we had during the summers in Maine when I was a kid: lightning smashing a tree in half right outside our cottage (conveniently located on a pond, for extra lightning attraction); lightning crackling out of the outlets in the walls; the house shaking with the might of thunder.

I shook right along with it, but my father and brother would count the time between the thunder and lightning, calculating how far away the storm was and when it was (thankfully) going to bother someone else.

Here in my little house surrounded by trees threatening to blow down in the storm and crush roof, car, or Self, it’s impossible to escape the storm. The living room has big sliding glass doors, a window above them, and from the couch I can also see the glass-paned front door and the skylight in the bedroom. In the bedroom, there’s the shaky balcony door, which blows open in the wind, and the afore-mentioned skylight. Since it’s a loft, I can also see the glass doors and living room window, even when I’m in bed. It’s like living in a fishbowl, especially when you’re trying to avoid the sightning of lightning and the rumbling of thunder.

It’s not a completely unreasonable fear. I mean, people do get struck by lightning. My grandmother once told me the story of a relative who was engaged to a man with a crotchety old mother. Apparently, he couldn’t get married until the old lady had shaken off this mortal coil, and she took her time about it. Eventually he was free to marry, though the parties involved were no longer young. But before they could make it to the altar, she was hit by lightning when crossing a field and died an old maid. The horror! I’m not sure if it’s a true story or an Awful Warning meant to keep silly girls from venturing out in thunder storms, but considering that I still remember it after more than 30 years suggests that it made an impression.

The storm seems to passed during the night, and I was happy to wake up and find that the power hadn’t been knocked out. Every time it’s rainy and windy I worry about that. Megan and Rob have had two trees fall in their garden so far this winter, but both of them fell politely away from the house and damage was avoided. For now.

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6 responses so far

6 Responses to “Storm”

  1. Joyon 13 Jan 2010 at 2:09 pm

    Poor you. What did ‘ the girls ” think of the storm? Did they hide under the cover with you?

    I dislike storms too.

    jx

  2. Mikeon 13 Jan 2010 at 2:27 pm

    Wow, still floored by this. I thought everyone loved thunderstorms.

  3. Jenniferon 13 Jan 2010 at 6:37 pm

    Mike and I always run to the window like kids to watch storms!

  4. Joyon 13 Jan 2010 at 7:16 pm

    N.B.

    I’m sure I have heard that one should keep away from Windows during storms….

    jx

  5. Guyon 14 Jan 2010 at 4:28 am

    Just a reminder of the power of Mother Nature, I also watch the beauty of the storms but what you have to stay away from are trees or anything made of metal or electrical.

  6. suzyon 14 Jan 2010 at 9:59 am

    They ignored the thunderstorm just like they ignored the earthquake. It takes more than that to get their attention – usually food. 😉