After The Storm

6:35

6:41

6:42

6:44

It's a cool, clear morning on the lake, hardly a cloud in the sky and a pleasant 59º.  What a difference from yesterday's sticky 82º in the morning.  The difference was the storm that came through yesterday afternoon, clearing out the hot, moist air, whipping through our willow tree, knocking down a few branches, lots of twigs covering our yard.

Six Foot Tall Jerusalem Artichoke Window Art

Yesterday started out sunny and warm, so I got in a paddle before driving off to yoga at 9:30 another good class with Julie.  On the way home, I stopped at Save A Lot, picked up some black beans for making soup, a Goya 16 bean soup mix (I have always wanted to try it) and some grapes for Evie. When I drove in, the folding cargo carrier I had ordered from Sam's Club was sitting on our back porch.   We took apart the carrier, to see what it looked like but it was so heavy we could hardly pick it up and it would be a real chore to put it on the hitch on the back of my Outback.  So I will be taking it back to Sam's Club, probably today.  It was a good idea, a carrier to take the place of my Honda Pilot but it's not going to work.

Evie made me an omelet for lunch, with tomatoes and pita and I watched more of Friday Night Lights while Evie did some things around the house.  She ended up talking with her step Mom Dot who lives in Scottsdale catching up.  Around 1:30, I drove through threatening skies to Westfield, where I was having my annual echo cardiogram done.  It ended up taking close to an hour, mostly because of the technician and I hit it off and we talked a good part of the time.  While the procedure was getting done, we both heard lots of thunder but could not see if it rained.  When I left, it was obvious that it rained pretty hard.

Should I Stop?

Yep

Rolling Out The Pie Crusts

 I stopped at Portage Pie in Westfield, picked up a cherry pie for Evie then headed home, hoping to stop at the Lighthouse Grocery to pick up some chips and dip.  Unfortunately, the Lighthouse was closed, as the power was off.  I could see why as a tree had fallen on the power lines, across the street from The Artist's Loft.  I was able to get through as the fire department was organizing traffic.

When I got home, I was shocked to see a couple of large willow branches down in our parking area and both our yard and our neighbor's yard littered with mostly small branches from the tree.  Evie and our neighbors were out cleaning up the mess.  So I took the pie in, changed my clothes and went out to help.  It took Evie and me almost an hour to clean up the yard and take the branches up the hill.  And we have yet to tackle the large downed branches in the parking area.  That will be today or tomorrow's chore.

7:18 pm

7:31 pm

7:57

We decided to have an easy dinner and a long wine time, so we got out the brie laced blue cheese, some crackers and sat listening to the news, then music, wondering if we would have another storm as predicted.  It was amazing to watch the sky slowly change from blue to threatening.  Just before 8:00, the wind picked up, it started to pour and we picked up wine and appetizers and rushed off the porch.  Fortunately, most of the storm passed around us and it rained for only a few minutes.

 We had the leftover Cuban sandwiches for dinner and watched the final episode of THE TUNNEL  It's a good series, worth watching.  We then waited up until 10:00, waiting for the Trump Circus to begin in Phoenix.  I could only take about 15 minutes of his vitriol, the crowd's cheering and jeering before going up to read.  Evie, unfortunately, stayed up watching the entire hate speech, the pundits that followed and could not get to sleep until 1:00 she was so worked up and upset by both Trump and the reaction of his supporters, reminding both of us of something out of a Hitleresque rally.