There's a nice big thunderstorm tonight. Off to the west, you can see bolts of yellow on the horizon, silent. To the south, there are white dancers, known only by their reflection in the clouds. From the east are the rumblers - you see a strike and a few seconds later what sounds like a heavy truck lumbering by. And every once in a while, you're blessed with an overhead cloud-to-cloud connection. Noiseless, but it lights up the entire neighborhood.
What's wonderful is that every once in a while it will knock the power out for a few minutes, leaving every strike hanging for a moment on the eyes. Intellectually, the idea that unharnessed electricity can show its mastery over supposedly well-controlled electricity is exciting and a real slap in the face to technology. In the end, nature will win.
Every electrical storm brings back a flood of memories - from my father's house burning down to every thunderstorm since, wondering at the marvel of such brilliant and random power.
And as the storm approaches, you can hear the wind pick up the head leaves while the rain starts little by little, each sound masking the other. It's dramatic, but you never know whether the storm is going to hit with its full force or not, so it is often anticlimactic.
A good way to spend a night.
Peace
John
