Hail Storm

Summer time finally came to our neck of the woods this weekend. It was hot and muggy, it got up to 85. We'd planned to have E's family over for an afternoon cookout and the weather was cooperating. People arrived after 2pm, and everything was going well. Until we started up the grill around 5. That's when the summer storm hit.

It started with big fat rain drops. Then it turned into a downpour. And still, we were outside under the umbrella, giggling about the summer storm, counting Mississippis between booms of thunder. That was, until the hail started.

The hail was coming down in 1/4 inch chunks at first. Then they got bigger. And they didn't stop. At one point I ran out to rescue something from under the umbrella, and got hit by some of the larger pieces. It stung, more than I was expecting. The hail kept coming down as we watched from inside the house and Garage-Mahal. And it didn't stop until the ground was covered, it looked like it had snowed.

The rain, thunder, and lightening continued for a while, even after the power went out. And we talked about the phenomenon we'd just experienced. E's aunt had never seen a hail storm before in her life. She'll always remember this cookout!

The next day I went out to survey the damage. The veggies in the garden are flattened. The peas are all bent over. The peppers, which had been blooming and starting the baby peppers, now barely have any leaves, let alone flowers or baby peppers. The lettuce is completely flattened, splayed out like a mat on the ground. And my raspberry bushes, which for the first time in 3 years have berries, look like someone ran over them with their car. It's so very sad.

Another casualty of the hail, the rhubarb and katalpa tree. They have holes in the leaves, like someone shot them with a shotgun. Two folding chairs with cushy seats suffered the same fate.

OK, so, the silver lining. My rain barrels are full. I'll probably still get some peas. The spinach is so voracous that, while the hail did some damage, it's going to keep producing. It's early enough to plant some more for the summer. And, since we don't have the big garden ready yet, we'd bought a farm share at a local organic farm, that is just outside the path that the hail storm took.

The Sanity of Books

On January 2nd of 1996 I blew out my knee skiing. On July 2 of 1996 I had exploratory surgery to determine why it wasn't getting better, and it turned into an ACL reconstruction (a story for another time).

That summer encompassed the months between my senior year of high school, which I'd spent at the local community college, and the beginning of my sophomore year in college (I think this is where E says something like I'm wicked smah-t, with the Boston accent, of course). I spent the whole summer hobbling around my mom's in-ground pool with a calf to thigh brace on my leg, picking off dead day lily blooms and reading. While it was painful, it was also great. I had so much time to just be, not to have to worry about anything other than getting my daily physical therapy in. And I read. A lot.

I've always read a lot. In high school it was fairly common for me to read a couple of 300+ page books a day. Its amazing to open a book and escape into a different world. And figure out what to do about other peoples problems. Its amazing how much perspective you have when its not you. That summer I was taking a dozen books out of the library (well, the books by mail, same difference) and in a week I'd be sending back for more. Everybody should have a summer like that (minus the knee surgery).

Anyway, lately I've been reading a lot again. Not as much as that summer. But a lot for me now. I finished a 1000 page book in 2 days. And I feel so much more relaxed than I have in a while. Now the only problem is I'm out of books. Guess I'll have to go to the bookstore...