home again!

In my last post you may remember that I wrote about that sweet, mild-mannered little thunderstorm that blew through. Well, evidently he took offense, and went home to get his momma and her sisters to show us how it should be done. From early afternoon on Thursday until well after dark, we were pummelled by a series of full-grown, thouroughly professional thunderstorms. We lost power several times -once for over three hours. One storm blew in from the south, dumped half an inch of rain in fifteen minutes, moved on, then turned around and pissed on us again. Another storm brought pea-sized hail for ten minutes. The thunder was continuous and the lightning started a forest fire. The Empress and I had a cold dinner and went to bed without TV or lights. And the next morning, it looked like this.

Yes, that's the full moon up in the Friday morning sky. Everything looks so serene and benign. I chose not to take photos of the tattered garden. We have all see nasturtiums after a hailstorm, have we not? It's not a pretty sight. I would have posted, but the power continued coming and going, and the internet was down till almost three.

And there's another factor. You can tell how eager I am to go somewhere by how early I am packed and ready to leave. Friday was the day that Brother and SIL were coming home. I had the car loaded by 6 AM, keeping out only my knitting and a single book on tape. (Georgette Heyer's "The Unfinished Clue.") And so I waited, ready to head for home just as soon as they arrived.

And I waited. And I waited. I got a heck of a lot of knitting done on a pink baby surprise jacket. At 3 I called DH (He gets off work at 2:30 and is usually home by 3) and told him that I still had not heard from Brother and SIL. DH strongly advised me to wait untill the next day to drive home, rather than face the madness of frantic campers, desperate to make the most of the last long weekend of the summer, fleeing the city and swarming like starlings to infest the great outdoors. Oh, I knew he had a good point, but I missed him so MUCH! So I said OK, but did not unpack the car.

At 5 brother called and told me they were about two hours from home and that the traffic was composed entirely of cops and assholes. His description of things was accurate, but his prediction was not. They finally got home at 9 PM. I had, by then, dragged my overnight kit out of the car and gone to bed, whining and grumbling.

Then I woke at 4:30, dressed, and without even a cup of tea or a bite of bread, hit the road. Traffic was quite light. Sunrise caught me as I was crossing the flats on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. My tape ran out, so I tried the radio. All I could pick up was the Rez Radio with the Talking Drum Show: Drumming and chanting by a variety of different performers, all sounding, to my untutored ears, quite mournful. And then the announcer,overflowing with cheer and enthusiasm said, "Boy, won't THAT get you going in the morning!?" LOL

I was snuggling my DH before he even got out of bed at 8 AM.

And afterwards, we went out for breakfast, then we went to the State Fair. I love going through the fair. We walked around and looked at EVERYTHING! We saw the quilts and the pickles and the knitting and the woodworking, the pigs and ponies and emus and llamas, the "Eco House" and the reptile museum, the Artisans Village and the vendor's booths where you can buy a chopper in a hopper, or a solvent that will clean off road tar, or mink oil hand lotion that makes your skin soft as rose petals but smells, unfortunately, like minks. Or no-stick frypans or a lambswool duster with a 9 ft extendable handle. Or an oyster that is guaranteed to hold a pearl. DH and I bought 4 oysters. Time to get out my drill and stringing kit, and add to my ecentric necklace.

Again we have kitty pictures! Ben is helping me with this sock. A while back, Teresa gave me a sample of this wonderful elastic yarn she is carrying and asked me to knit a sample. I kept putting it off till I forgot about it, so now I am hammering down on a sample sock for the next sales trip she is making. Now that I'm actually working with the yarn, I just love it! OK, it has that boucle snaggy effect, but once you get over that, it's really cool! And her dye work is marvelous.

Sunday sky brings us sunrise in the broadleaf maples across the street, and time, at last to check the e-mail and hit the blogs!