he's just chillin', my l'il man, my Mr. Mr. - Gussie Gus
This morning at 5:00 am Winnie Dixon and I curled up on the guest room bed in darkness. I with my coffee and Winn with her cheeks of sweetness and we waited to watch flashes of lightening and then we would count until the thunder clap - 1000, 2000, 3000, always counting out loud - the secret equation for figuring out the distance between you and the thunderstorm.
A counting game I've played since childhood. If you manage to count to 7 or 8 thousand (as we did this morning) then the storm is 7 or 8 miles away - rare is the time that you see the big flash of light and then barely get the first 1000 out– before the crack of thunder cuts you off. Now that's exciting because that means the storm is directly overhead. But that hardly ever happens. I can remember once I was in a hotel room in New York City, the rain outside my window coming down in torrents and suddenly there was a crash of thunder so explosively loud that it didn't sound like thunder. When thunder happens directly over you you feel it as much as you hear it. This was the summer of 2005 and for a split second, hearing this crash as loud as I could imagine, I thought of 9/11. And years ago I lived in Montreal, on the plateau and often in the hot humid evenings of summer we would have incredible thunder storms, no chance to count between lightening and thunder. Crashes so loud, my heart would race, it was thrilling and scary and I would always think to myself (and still do) - the world and nature is such an amazing thing.
It's pouring rain here and has been since I opened my eyes just passed 4:30. Miss Dixon and I may stay home this morning. If this downpour continues, we'll wait for it to let up and we'll skip the far away beach and we'll walk in the park and down to the crescent beach that's nearby and within the village limits. When Jake & Em were still here with us we'd walk in pouring rain, they were water dogs - rain meant nothing to them. Miss Winn seems to prefer staying dry, we'll walk in gentle rain but this beating down rain ... it's for the retrievers.
I'll pour my bath of bubbles and scent and I'll go back to bed with my second cup of coffee and my notebook and favourite pen and she and I, we'll do some planning and scheming and dreaming and hoping. It's Sunday.
and a chillin' is what he does best
Susan the photos are great, but the first one is just divine, very professional. The thunder stories are interesting.Now in my fifties, I thought I'd seen and felt thunder before, but I was underprepared for the tropical storms in the Northern Territory of Australia last year. In the capital Darwin I was asleep when a clap of thunder left me terrified at about 1 a.m. I had never heard anything like it, and equated it with trenches in the First World War.The shock! My host and guests who were still awake on the balcony,and used to it, said that some are so bad overhead that you scream back and the air collapses around you.Even now I have not described it very well. It was all a bit much for a South Australian girl!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pics of Gus! He looks so much like my Bugsy...only skinnier. LOL... Bugs is a portly old man.
ReplyDeleteLOVE thunderstorms too...the bigger the better. We've had a few doozies here in Ottawa this summer. Bring 'em on!
What a relaxed little fellow he is. He certainly seems to know it's Sunday.
ReplyDeleteI am fortunate that neither Edward or Apple is afraid of storms. Edward, however, will do anything possible to keep from getting his feet wet. He's most definitely from herding, not retrieving, stock!
Apple doesn't care either way. She's just happy no matter what!
When thunder hits the river bed here, you can feel the sonic boom it makes in your chest! Something about the echo off the limestone cliffs on the sides. I had never heard thunder so loud before we lived here!
ReplyDeleteFab pic of Gus! :)
Hi Susan. Sorry for the late stop. I had a slow starting day after overdoing it yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI smiled as I read your blog here on my couch this evening. Why? Because I was counting, too...to see how far the storm was away from us here this morning. I was driving to town to pick up some pictures from our trip, and lightening was filling the sky.
I loved your photos, too. You are very good with the camera. I hope to learn more and have the expertise and beauty as you do. :)
*hugs*