Sunday, May 4, 2008

Spring in the Midwest

I absolutely love spring. Always have, always will. And believe it or not, one of my favorite things about this time of year is the wild storms that herald the advent of warmer weather. Don't get me wrong--I'm no masochist. I don't revel in awful storms that destroy property and injure people. But I do love to see what God can do with the heavens. Honestly, I don't think there's anything quite so awe-inspiring... For one small moment you are truly capable of grasping just how small and insignificant you are.

This week we had our first official summer storm. It started off as a sticky, humid day with a warm wind from the south. As I was standing outside late in the afternoon, my hair (which had been blowing one direction) whipped across my face in the opposite direction when a blast of cold wind shot down from the north. Ooohhh, tornado weather. Yup. A few hours later the storm sirens were going off and we were running for the basement. Yeah right, we were running for the backyard where we could get a better view of the impending storm. Dumb, I know, but we rather stupidly believe that we would see it coming and be able to outrun it. Anyway, it was the real deal. A tornado (1/2 a mile wide) touched down just outside our town and continued north through a couple counties before dissipating. We didn't see it, but our friends' neighbor took these shots. In a word: WOW.

2 comments:

  1. Amazing photos, Nicole! We did not go outside or down to the basement; instead, we had CBS on hoping they would reinstate Survivor!

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  2. When I took your wonderful novel back to the Vernon Library I insisted on the attention of the nearest clerk/friend and read to her your awesome paragraph about the snow like skeins of wool. She got tears, and we checked to see if the book was on hold, no, thank goodness, she gets it next. You have an awesome command of uniquely combining ordinary words in a new way, and that, Nicole, is the highest praise I ever give.

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