Before the storm

The water looks like mercury,

gusty winds stir the surface,

haze blankets far distant shores.

Dark clouds brush treetops with swirling fingers

Escaping vapors rise to join the clouds,

wanting to belong, wanting to dance.

Before and After

Yesterday a light morning sun shower left glistening translucent pearls on the surprise lilies that popped up on my bank. These were definitely a surprise, as I'd forgotten all about them. My mom and I planted them in what was going to be a nursery, allowing the earth to cradle them until I could have beds made. Well, nature being what it is the nursery was immediately overtaken by weeds and vines and buckeyes and the lilies were forgotten about over time.

Recently, my new garden angel by the name of Bradley has been helping me clear the bank. He cut down saplings and used a professional weedeater on the rest of the undergrowth. Then, he sprayed it with Roundup twice. I now have what is known as a "dead grass mulch." No matter - the weeds are already starting to grow back BUT... I have Bradley and a professional Roundup sprayer. We've planted native azaleas and a gray-stemmed dogwood, which are all appreciative of our rains.

I was astounded one morning to discover the heads of surprise lilies poking up between the dead grasses. These beautiful lilies were not touched by the Roundup as they were safely beneath the soil waiting for their chance to bloom. And bloom they did!

Last night's torrential downpour followed by this morning's storms did a little damage to the lilies, but not much. Some are lying down on the bank in the storm's passing gloom and the upright blossoms have gained a little character.

Yet as I look outside this afternoon the lilies are beginning to perk up and reach for the sky. Storms have passed for now and the earth has had a nice long drink.

Sky Paintings

Sunday. I'd spent the day in town with my best friend celebrating her birthday despite torrential rains and thunderstorms. We had a lovely time and the drive home was dicey and slow thanks to standing water, water flowing over roadways, flooding and hail. Pulling into the driveway the sun broke through the clouds, blue skies dimming in the sunset. I ran in to see the family and leashed Baylee for her walk.


I was astonished by the westward clouds. It was as if a horizontal tornado was twisting and turning slowly in the sunset. Dark clouds beneath and above and to the north, this sunset tornado was golden and apricot and saffron in the winds. I ran in to get my camera as the show was beginning to fade. Baylee had to wait.

I'm no meteorologist but this sure looked like some of interesting weather phenomena.

It was as though the clouds themselves were raining particles of themselves as they twisted and turned.

The sunset spotlighted the extravaganza.

This only took about five minutes.

It occurred to me just how like the Eagle Nebula this phenomena appeared to me. Sideways and lighter and closer, but no more amazing and awe-inspiring.


This sight appeared to be so much like those of the Hubble telescope that has captured countless images of cloudy miracles in deep space.

So beautiful. So etherical. So inspiring. I feel so insignificant.

The eastern clouds and storms wanted me to notice them, too.

Downloading and uploading these sights, I'm also reminded of sea creatures - Chambered Nautilis and Sea Sponges, Squid and ocean waves and all many sea creatures Jacques Cousteau never identified in his day but showed us in film.


Sea and Space, Earth and Clouds and Water...all combined under the title "Nature," or "Cosmos" or "Universe." It matters not.


I'm almost without speech when I see these amazing cloud formations. As much as I love trees, and I do, not being able to see the sky's sunrises and sunsets would take away much of my joy.


A friend of mine admonished my blog for being random, but I swear to you I cannot think of one reason to stick to only one subject when there is so much beauty in this world. So random I shall remain and I hope that's okay by you. If not, I'll miss you but shall continue to enjoy the random beauty of this world while I can.

November 27, 2004

This is straight out of the camera - no photoshopping and no changes in saturation. This is the real deal. A spectacular sunrise, it heralded the arrival of a terrific and terrifying storm. Windows shook and vibrated due to 60 mph winds, and water gushed through the cracks left by the caulking that popped out. Water ran down our walls from upper windows and bulged beneath the paint and drywall. I was up all night mopping up with towels. We had to move the furniture and place buckets and bowls everywhere to catch the dribbles from our loft windows. Well, not "we" as my husband was out of town.

This particular storm was the first one of many similar storms in our lake house. This shot is facing southeast, and when winds come from that direction there's nothing to stop it as that's the river channel. Fierce winds slammed into our front windows like a fiend, rattling the rafters and shaking windows. It boomed and the house shuddered and creaked. But the windows held and the house stayed on its foundation and all was well after a little repair work.

Our lake is beautiful and I love a good storm. It's a good thing, because storms here can be quite fierce since we're beside open water. No doubt every one of you have similar weather stories. I take the bad with the good as with these storms come great photo opportunities.

I'm adding this bit on Friday night - I thought about my post this afternoon and decided to post an informal disclaimer. I'm not for a moment comparing my storm experience with those of the hurricane victims. While we've had our times here, my heart is going out tonight to those in Ike's path. I cannot imagine, and never want to experience, the fury of a hurricane.