When the wind began to blow from the west, bending the bars and larches at a 45 degree angle, I began to run for the blankets that were airing over the porch railing, to save them from going into the woods. I missed on the BBQ cover and called Anita for help with the thorniest of problems for it was lodged in the blackberry vines on the north slope, too far down to reach with my industrial broom and too far up for her to dig out with the straw broom. I slid down the hill to see if I could push on the BBQ cover and she grabbed a rake trying to catch it with its tines. Success in retrieving it, and fearing the lightening that was flashing through the sky by now, we ran to the porch for shelter, and to enjoy the trees bending over, the smell of the rain, and the claps of thunder. I am usually the last one left on the porch. I can’t drag myself away from the sights and smells of a storm ... until I remember that I left my car window down at which point I brave the rain again to fix that problem.
The window that was letting in rain is on my1980 Honda Accord which had been towed home that day from Salmon Arm, having given up the ghost in the downtown Askews parking lot. My mechanic keeps telling me to let the car be retired ... and I hope this is not the month I have to take his advice. Lloyd Beatty, the driver for Ben’s Towing was at the parking lot in 10 minutes and chatted with us on the drive home. I am always trying to find out when local people arrived in the community and where they came from. He and his family of 9 children arrived from Surry B.C. in 2001. “A blended family?”, I asked when he said that the ages of their children range from 36 to 6 years old and I had figured out the math on the kids. . “A good move, coming to this community,”
“Yes,” he replied. “Good to live here. Where ever else people live, if they want to talk to God they use a 1-900 number. Here, the call is local.”
Later the lights went out. That is how why we spent the night in the dark, remembering the days when we thought we had to eat up all of the ice cream in the house in case it melted in the freezer.
These kids don't like ice-cream, so we just went to bed, a good place to be since it was 11:30 pm anyway.
Arta
We had a mini storm here last night.
ReplyDeleteIt has been weeks of weather with temperatures over 30 C and no rain. I think they have officially declared the region as being in a drought.
We had terrible thunder a lightning and winds, but only enough rain to sprinkle the driveway, not soak into even the top millimeter of soil. Sad for the plants.
Everyone's grass is crispy and yellow -- very unusual for this part of the world where it stays green until it snows and is green in the spring when the snow melts.